General Motors Wins USCC Foundation 2021 Citizens Award For Pandemic Response

General Motors has won a U.S. Chamber of Commerce Citizens Award, which are given out annually to “purpose-driven businesses for their leadership in solving the world’s biggest challenges.”

GM took home the award for the ‘Best Disaster Response and Community Resilience Program’ due to its efforts to build ventilators and PPE at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic last year.

“As the COVID-19 pandemic worsened, General Motors recognized its unique supply chain relationships and harnessed its ability to quickly scale manufacturing,” the USCC said. “The company partnered with Ventec Life Systems to build more than 30,000 ventilators at its manufacturing facility; additionally, more than 5,000 employees volunteered to make and distribute more than 7 million masks across the country.”

Ventilators sit at GM plant in Kokomo, Indiana

GM helped the U.S. build up its national stockpile of ventilator machines last year, partnering with Ventec to produce the critically important medical devices at its defunct semiconductor plant in Kokomo, Indiana. The automaker entered into a $490 million federal contract in April of 2020 to produce 30,000 units of the Ventec V+ Pro ventilators and successfully delivered all machines to the government before handing production of the machines back to Ventec last September.

In addition to the ventilator machines, GM also cleared out 31,000 sq. ft. of floor space at its Warren Transmission Plant to produce PPE, including facemasks, medical gowns and intubation boxes, among more. It also produced PPE at separate facilities in Mexico and Canada to help aid those countries amid the pandemic.