Air Liquide, Groupe PSA, Schneider Electric, Valeo Producing 10,000 Medical Respirators in Response to French Government Request

April 3, 2020

Faced with the compelling need for more respirators on its national territory, the French government has asked, on March 22, a group of French industrial companies led by Air Liquide to study the possibility of increasing the production of respirators so as to provide 10,000 respirators in 50 days, between the beginning of April and mid-May.

In response, Air Liquide, Groupe PSA, Schneider Electric and Valeo have set up a Task Force composed of about 30 purchasing and industrialization experts in order to define an action plan to increase the production of Air Liquide Medical Systems respirators, which are already referenced by a great number of hospitals in France and abroad.

To meet this industrial challenge, the exceptional contribution of 100 partner companies will also be sought so as to provide the 300 essential components that are necessary for the fabrication of these medical systems.

Within this Task Force, Schneider Electric has provided support by:

• Contributing to the overall design of the industrial production framework.
• Supplying equipment for the reconfiguration of production lines and providing support for securing supplies (electronic and electrical engineering).
• Making available Lean Manufacturing experts bringing their skills and experience to improve existing manufacturing lines to increase production of two types of respirators: T60 and the Osiris range, both needing to increase production by 3x and 70x, respectively.
• Gathering 100 Schneider Electric employee volunteers as qualified Operators to work 24/7 for approximately the next six weeks at the Air Liquide site in Antony (South of Paris).

Schneider Electric thanks its global supply chain teams, mobilized to install these new production lines, as well as its employees who volunteered as Operators to assemble the respirators. Schneider has committed itself alongside its partners, in solidarity, to make this important contribution to the production of life-saving medical devices.

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