Ford Broadmeadows Making Facemasks

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Ford Australia has joined the fight against coronavirus and turned its Broadmeadows facility into a face shield production plant.

Ford will donate 100,000 face shields for frontline workers fighting the coronavirus pandemic.

The initial prototypes of the face shields were tested at five Victorian hospitals, before being mass-produced and distributed to healthcare workers.

Already, 50,000 face shields have been assembled at the Broadmeadows facility, with another 50,000 expected in the next few weeks.

The shields have been tested at the Northern, Western, Alfred, Austin and Royal Melbourne hospitals.

Engineers from Ford were deployed to support the production, pivoting their skills for car engineering, to essential face shields.

Ford Australia and New Zealand president and chief executive Kay Hart said producing face shields was something very new to them.

“Our innovation team and engineers were able to test a number of different designs in hospitals and with their input we have been able to get the face shield right for the people who will be wearing them,” Ms Hart said.

“It’s great that our team has been able to quickly pivot to put their skills towards producing the face shields while also continuing their global work designing and engineering pick-up trucks and SUVs.”

Ford is working with the government to ensure the ongoing need for face shields is kept under control.

“While most of us aren’t out there on the front lines, our team here in Australia is proud to make a contribution as we all work together to get through these really tough times,” Ms Hart said.