Xerox set to mass produce Vortran’s disposable emergency ventilators

Xerox is partnering with the ventilator manufacturer Vortran to help mass produce its portable, disposable hardware for the COVID-19 pandemic.

Vortran’s FDA-approved GO2Vent and its monitoring devices are not designed as full replacements for the heavy, durable ventilators found in intensive care units—instead, they are used in emergency situations and ambulances, or while transporting patients through the hospital and during procedures such as an MRI.

According to the companies, healthcare workers have been using such tools for patients who do not need an ICU-grade ventilator to help free up much-needed capacity.

“Our smartest minds met (virtually) with Vortran’s smartest minds and figured out how to mass-produce this critical technology,” Xerox CEO John Visentin said in a statement.

Together—including through Xerox’s manufacturing facility outside Rochester, N.Y., and Vortran’s California operations—the two companies hope to scale up from 40,000 ventilators to be produced in April to between 150,000 and 200,000 per month by the end of June, as long as they have the parts. Both companies will distribute the devices.

The GO2Vent ventilator is powered by pressurized gas with no electronics, operated on an oxygen tank or an air compressor, and can be discarded after use by a single patient. A separate portable device, the battery-operated APM-Plus, is also being evaluated for mass production by Xerox and Vortran to provide additional patient monitoring and alarms for airway pressure and respiratory signs.

“The partnership with Xerox has one clear goal—to help save as many lives as possible. With Vortran’s proven technology and Xerox’s ability to hyper-scale manufacturing, we believe we can supply healthcare providers as many as 1 million ventilators in the coming months,” said Vortran co-founder and CEO Gordon Wong. “For all of us, this will be the most important thing we ever do.”