When director Peter Berg approached Ford Motor to tell the story of a hero about the car manufacturer’s dramatic twist on generating non-public protective devices for health care personnel and lifeguards after Covid-19 collapsed, the company’s leaders wasted little time agreeing to paint with .the cinematic genius Friday Night Lights, Patriots Day and other Hollywood hits.
The result is On the Line, a documentary that premiered on September 4 at Aspen Ideas Now and will surely be widely exhibited through Ford, and others, as an inspiring story of the voluntary and sacrificed spirit that can motivate a company and its employees.white collar and blue collar, which combine temporarily and non-stop for the cause.
The pandemic, of course, that cause. Once he introduced what was called “Project Apollo” last spring into his engineering labs and factories, Ford was able to manufacture 50,000 enthusiasts, the last one he handed over to the federal government last week, as well as masks, face shields and medical grade gowns.Ford has manufactured more than 75 million devices in total.
And even now, Ford is expanding its ability to donate one hundred million more medical grade masks to organizations across the country until 2021.
The eight-minute short documentary highlights Ford’s engineers and introduces Ford’s unionized workers who volunteered to do the PPE at a time when everyone was taking refuge on the site, and the film tells the stories of some of the first responders who needed the PPE.
“People raised their hands to say, ‘What can I do?How can I help?” Jim Baumbick, Ford’s vice president of management, strategy and product line, said, making plans for the company.Berg” did an astonishing task to capture that spirit.”
In fact, Ford’s call for hercical effort to race with General Electric, 3M and other brands (the automaker had never produced a mask or fan in its history) comes from a genuine moment of life, captured cinematographically through Berg, who imitates one..the most genuine dramatic moments of all time, recreated cinematographically in Apollo 13.
“On the Apollo mission, at one point, they had to save the astronauts by literally placing a square pin in a circular hollow with, of course, only what was aboard the capsule,” Baumbick said.”And that’s how Mission Control presented itself to its engineers in a desperate effort to find a solution.
‘Maximum coverage of medical personnel is called respirator’ motorized air purifier ‘or PAPR’, Baumbick explained.”It has a fan that sucks air and takes it through a tube to a sealed main unit; filtered air protects the worker.We discovered the Apollo thirteen reference because it was like placing a square pin in a circular hole.But the precept of PAPR is air processing, and we have in-car air recovery systems and filtering capabilities.
“So within 36 hours of the discussion, our groups had sketched a papR prototype, cutting off a battery of a DeWalt [electric] tool, a seat fan on an F-150 and a HEPA cleaning and creating a head.-Higher unit. And we said, “We think we can do it.””In 38 days,” Baumbick said, Ford produces government-approved PAPRs with a production of 3 million that now totals more than 32,000 units.
A crisis “sometimes leads to innovation,” Baumbick said. “This is an Apollo project for first responders.”
I have broad interests and delight as a journalist, covering the automotive sector, the customer’s product industry, entrepreneurship and others, as well as
I have broad interests and delight as a journalist, covering the automotive sector, the customer’s product industry, entrepreneurship and others, as well as politics, culture, media and religion.I used to cover the automotive industry for the Wall Street Journal, which gave me and some colleagues a Pulitzer Prize for our General Motors awning.I have also covered cars Edmunds.com, AutoTrader.com, Automotive News and Advertising Age.I am a major contributor to Chief Executive Magazine, Brandchannel.com, Townhall Magazine, New Nutrition Business and the Journal, among others.I hope that living near Flyover Country for the most part of my life will give me a well-founded perspective.