Marquardt Switches supplying Ford with switches for ventilators

Marquardt Switches of Cazenovia will supply Ford Motor Company with essential switches, as the automotive manufacturer ramps up to manufacture thousands of ventilators to fight against COVID-19. Ford is scheduled to produce 50,000 ventilators in 100 days in an effort to help gap the worldwide shortage for ventilators amid the Coronavirus crisis. Through a partnership with GE Healthcare, the automaker said it will start assembling ventilators by the week of April 20 at its manufacturing plant in Michigan. Ford’s goal is to produce 50,000 life-saving medical devices by July 4.
Local Madison County manufacturer, Marquardt Switches, will supply Ford with a mass amount of on/off switches to be installed into the ventilators as early as Monday.
The ventilator switch business will be in parallel to other advanced interior vehicle switches that Marquardt is currently in the process of developing for the automaker.
Marquardt manufactures electro-mechanical switches, controls and wireless communications systems for major industries – including automotive, off-road, truck and other industrial applications. The company’s “standard switch” division is primarily responsible for supplying switches and controls for life-saving medical equipment, including various medical devices, compressors, generators, radios, utility appliances, and other essential equipment.
The company also announced last week that it will supply and donate hose connectors for personal protection equipment (PPE) to a local CNY hospital. The PPE suits will provide safe air to medical workers on the front lines of the COVID-19 pandemic. Marquardt will continue to explore new ways to help during this time of crisis. Marquardt has reached out to local hospitals and healthcare providers to see what supplies they need and how Marquardt can help by way of its tooling and machining capabilities. If you are a hospital or healthcare provider in need of supplies and think Marquardt could help, please send all inquiries to Kirk Wardell at [email protected].