Ferrari race to solutions

While health workers are hard at work assisting COVID-19 patients, Ferrari has tasked their department and its employees which usually is responsible for producing vehicle prototypes to produce valves and fittings for protective masks and respirator equipment. Utilizing additive manufacturing technology Ferrari has started producing the thermoplastic components which are critical to creating emergency masks to assist patients suffering from respiratory failure.

Mares, a diving equipment manufacturer, developed some of the valves while the company Nuovamacut Gruppo TeamSystem handled the logistics in finding the companies who have contributed to the success of the project. This team effort will see Solid Energy supplying other fittings needed to transform Decathlon snorkel masks into masks to protect healthcare workers while Ferrari continues to produce several hundred items needed for both patients and healthcare workers.

These items will be distributed accordingly to various Italian hospitals including those in Bergamo, Genoa, Modena, and Sassuolo as well as to health workers in the town of Medicina by a variety of companies that have gotten involved in the initiative with the coordination of the Italian Civil Protection.

Furthermore, Ferrari will be donating all or part of their annual compensation to fund to a variety of the initiatives in the region with funding going towards projects in the immediate communities of Maranello, Fiorano and Formigine first. The funds will be used to purchase COVID-19 test kits and diagnostic equipment which provides for rapid results, as quick as within four to eight hours.

These test kits will be sent to Policlinico di Modena and Baggiovara and Sassuolo hospitals. Bolstering the efficiency of the volunteers of the Local Health Authority of Modena, a vehicle, which will also be made available to a voluntary assistance group, will be donated to assist in the mobility of these organisations.

Not all the funding and efforts will be going towards the equipment needed by healthcare workers but also towards notebooks, tablets and portable modems to be used by the primary and secondary schools situated in these towns. Access to the equipment will allow teachers and students to continue with online lessons while remaining safely at home. In addition to the purchasing of the IT equipment which will remain at the schools after the pandemic, funds have been allocated towards food vouchers and essential goods for struggling families within Maranello during the emergency.

The fund which has grown to two-million Euros thanks to the Chairman, the CEO and Board of Directors pledging their full compensation from April to the end of the year and the addition of the senior management team donating 25 per cent of their salaries for the same period.