- In times of crisis, human beings get really creative.
We saw this during World War II,
when fears of an enemy attack moved President Roosevelt
to turn to the automotive industry to build war planes.
On May 26, 1940, he announced that he was asking
corporate manufacturers to help produce
50,000 combat aircraft in 12 months.
At the time, that was more than all the planes built
in the U.S. since the beginning of flight.
(dramatic music)
The Ford Motor Company, in response to this commission,
ended up building a plant called Willow Run
where it produced over 8,000 B24 Liberators.
Many women were employed there, including Rosie Will Monroe,
the inspiration behind this famous poster.
The plant was a marvel of manufacturing efficiency.
Ford took what it did best, building machines very quickly,
and applied that skill to something new, the airplane.
80 years later, at another plant down the road,
a new team has joined a global effort of manufacturers
like Tesla and GM, and countless do-it-yourselfers
working to respond to another desperate need,
medical equipment.
(mellow music)
In March of 2020, the COVID pandemic pushed the demand
for personal protective gear and ventilators to the brink.
This is Adrian Price, the man leading Ford's effort
to make face shields, gowns, respirators, and ventilators.
- When you see some crisis like this,
it was like what can we do with automotive components
that could actually help us deploy things
into the field very quickly?
And so, that's where the idea of Apollo came from.
(dramatic music) (clattering)
- We gotta find a way to make this
fit into the hole for this,
(thuds) using nothing but that.
- Our team was able to take a vented seat blower
out of one of our vehicles and combine it with a filter,
and actually you know, make something
that was medically robust, and currently we're making
face shields using EPDM rubber that actually comes
from the door seals of some of our vehicles.
So basically, as we think about building a new product,
we think first about how do we build one,
and then how do we build a few,
and then how do we build them at rate?
- So far, this effort has produced 20 million face shields,
and is on track to make 50,000 ventilators by mid-July.
What makes all of this possible
isn't just clever re imaginings of manufacturing processes,
it's people.
(gentle music)
- I was an assembler, I was on the line
for a generation four battery for the electric cars.
I had to basically put the battery parts,
some battery parts together.
That was all I was doing.
- I made everything from 3L throttle bodies
to throttle bodies for Mustangs.
I made alternators.
- And then I got a call and they asked me if I would
be interested and I thought to myself,
what would my dad do?
He told me one time, he was like, "Trina, there's two types
"of people in this world.
"There are people that do and there are people that don't."
He said, "I am a person that does and so are you."
So, April 17, we went to work.
- These workers were already collecting unemployment.
They had no financial incentive to do this.
- Yeah, I have a daughter that's a nurse
and I'm twice her age and I thought she's got
her whole life to live.
Let me do whatever I can to protect her and the other people
that are putting their lives on the line.
- My friend had got affected by it.
I didn't know exactly if I would lose a friend or not,
so it was just like, let me step out here
and try to save some lives.
- This is a very real thing.
I don't want anybody that I love or care about, to die.
I don't want anybody that you love or care about to die.
I want them to get well.
I want everybody to have a chance
to be able to survive this.
- There is no greater satisfaction than to help somebody.
When I toured the work sites, it's amazing
what they're doing and they're doing it
with a sense of pride.
- And then the more I thought about it,
I thought, wow, you know, my grandmother,
she went to work in the factory
when the war was breaking out and I'm proud that
she passed that legacy on and I'm glad I stepped up
to the plate and I'm gonna see it through.
- I wish I wasn't doing this.
I wish I was standing in batteries, screwing in my screws.
That's what I wish I was doing, but I'm not
and until this venture is finished,
I will be in the ventilator area cutting all of my tubes
to make sure that these things are distributed
to the people that need them.
(intense music)
- The equipment shortages caused by the global coronavirus
pandemic have sparked a wave of innovation.
People from across the world have applied their skills
and in some cases, just their determination
to try to solve this problem.
How will these efforts be viewed by the lens of history?
How will people 80 years from now
remember this moment that we're now in?
In a world that in many ways can feel so divided,
it's times like these that unite us
and put our ideals on full display,
that show us that creativity, innovation,
and empathy for others is something within each of us.
It's what makes us human.
(mellow music)
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