RENO, Nev. – Today Hamilton Medical announced a new dimension to the company’s ongoing response to the global Coronavirus pandemic. The company is launching an all-new production line for critical care ventilators near the company’s U.S. offices in Reno, Nevada.
Production in Reno will be dedicated to the contract announced today by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
“Since the global crisis began, Hamilton Medical has responded with urgency to help hospitals, health care workers and patients,” said Bob Hamilton, CEO of Hamilton Medical. “We are proud that with the new production facility, we can now supply even more life-saving equipment to the U.S.”
Hamilton Medical has already increased production earlier this year at its existing production facility in Switzerland. In late-March, with global supply chains strained as never before, and the acute need for ventilators accelerating, Hamilton Medical decided to set-up an entirely new production line in the U.S.
“The best approach is to create a new production line with a new supply chain – so that we could avoid diverting from existing production needed around the world or worsening the ongoing supply chain bottlenecks,” Hamilton said.
Creating a new supply chain for hundreds of parts and setting up a new production line for a precision medical device is a big undertaking. Doing it within a few weeks is even more challenging.
“We needed a partner, so we turned to General Motors,” Hamilton said. “They jumped in immediately. I’ve never seen anything like it.”
Since late March, the Hamilton Medical and GM teams have been working non-stop, establishing new suppliers for hundreds of parts and designing a new manufacturing operation. Now, Hamilton Medical is hiring several hundred workers in Reno, and employee training is underway. Construction of the production line is in process. Production of the first ventilators is scheduled for the end of April.
“GM has donated their expertise, and their people work side-by-side with Hamilton Medical teams from Switzerland and Nevada,” Hamilton said. “This is unprecedented. The teams from Hamilton Medical and GM are driven by the same goal: getting these vital devices to front-lines.”
The Reno operation will build Hamilton Medical’s HAMILTON-T1 critical care ventilator.
About the HAMILTON-T1 critical care ventilator
The federal government has ordered HAMILTON-T1 transport critical care ventilators, which are suitable for use inside and outside intensive care units. Currently, close to 4,000 HAMILTON-T1 are already in operation in the U.S. - by hospitals, air ambulances, the US Army, and many others.
About Hamilton Medical
In 1983 Hamilton Medical was founded with a vision: to develop Intelligent Ventilation solutions that make life easier for patients in critical care and for the people who care for them. Today, Hamilton Medical is a leading manufacturer of critical care ventilation solutions for a variety of patient populations, applications, and environments.