MURRYSVILLE, PA (KDKA) – Philips Respironics in Murrysville plans to increase its ventilator production from 1,000 to 4,000 per week.

KDKA talked to business leader John Frank, who said the increase started in January as the coronavirus impacted China hard.

Locally, the medical supply company has posted several dozen new jobs with plans to post more.

Frank said it’s remarkable to see his team take the risk each day to come to work and make these life-saving devices.

But he believes there are still roadblocks ahead for their production.

“The challenge that the world has now is not the shortage of production facilities like ours in Pittsburgh. There’s a shortage of parts to build those ventilators. So you can imagine there is a very busy workforce finding suppliers who can build parts very fast,” Frank said.

Frank tells KDKA as more companies make ventilators, just as many will need to make the parts.

Philips is also shifting its development focus to find a way to use other breathing devices for coronavirus patients.