Ferrari manufactures sports and racing cars but has always stood out for its high technological level, inventiveness, attention to the environment and, last but not least, the propensity to help the needy. It therefore seems to us a commendable initiative and in line with the brand to build respirator parts to help Coronavirus fight.
While Ferrari’s F1 operation is currently in shutdown, as all F1 teams are, the Italian company, in fact, announced they have begun to produce respirator valves and fittings for protective masks at their Maranello factory.
These specialist valves are to convert snorkel masks into respirators used to treat coronavirus patients, Chairman John Elkann said.
Italy has been one of the countries most heavily affected by the pandemic and in March the Agnelli family, who control the Ferrari F1 team and road car business, as well as the FIAT Chrysler company and Juventus football club, announced a series of measures to help, including a €10 million donation to the authorities dealing with the crisis, sourcing 150 ventilators and providing vehicles to the Italian Red Cross.
Ferrari's Maranello factory to help fight Coronavirus.
And now the Italian luxury car company has set its Maranello factory to work to help battle the virus. The department that would normally be developing new car prototypes is now producing respirator valves and fittings for masks, to allow health workers to treat Coronavirus patients and help the patients themselves. These thermoplastic components are produced using additive manufacturing technology.
“Ferrari is producing parts of these valves through its 3D printing technologies”, a spokesman for the company said.
The idea of adapting the masks was originally proposed by Italian engineers and is now being used in different countries to meet a surge in the use of these medical devices that are key in saving lives during the pandemic.
Some valves have been developed by Mares, a diving equipment manufacturer, tailor-made to fit their masks so as to create emergency masks to assist patients suffering from respiratory failure, while other fittings are being supplied to a company called Solid Energy, who will use them to transform Decathlon snorkel masks into aids to protect healthcare workers exposed to infection.
The logistics of the project were handled by Nuovamacut Gruppo TeamSystem, who also helped with the research of the different companies who contributed to the success of the project.
“Ferrari planned to manufacture several hundred items of equipment that were distributed by some of the companies involved, with the coordination of the Italian Civil Protection, to various Italian hospitals, including those in Bergamo, Genoa, Modena and Sassuolo, as well as to health workers in the town of Medicina, near Bologna,” Prancing horse company said in a statement.
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