Medtronic announces partnership following ventilator open source initiative

Foxconn Industrial Internet, a business group within Foxconn Technology Group (Foxconn), has successfully completed the necessary regulatory and quality requirements in order to begin manufacturing Medtronic Puritan Bennett 560 (PB560) ventilators for Medtronic in the United States.

Since its introduction in 2010, the PB560 is sold in more than 35 countries around the world. The device is a compact, lightweight, and portable ventilator that provides airway support for both adults and children. The ventilator is suitable for use within clinical settings and in the home.

The partnership came about after Medtronic publicly shared the design specifications for the PB560 through the Medtronic ventilator open source initiative, which launched earlier this year. To date, there have been more than 200,000 registrations for the design specifications.

Together the companies are reportedly ramping up plans to produce 10,000 PB560 ventilators over the next year at Foxconn’s Wisconn Valley Science and Technology Park in Mount Pleasant, Wisconsin. The ventilators will be marketed and sold by Medtronic.

Vafa Jamali, senior vice president and president of the respiratory, gastrointestinal and informatics business, which is part of the Minimally Invasive Therapies Group at Medtronic, commented: “No single company can meet the current demands for ventilators that are critical in the fight against Covid-19. Joining together with Foxconn immediately increases our production capacity to meet the increased demand and creates a flexible manufacturing model for us.

“Together, we can increase ventilator supply and help more patients and clinicians than any one company can do alone.”

Foo-Ming Fu, CEO of Foxconn Industrial Internet Wisconsin, added: “Foxconn is grateful to all frontline professionals who tirelessly work to serve others and is proud to partner with Medtronic to address this global pandemic. Foxconn’s manufacturing capabilities can bring to market life-saving medical equipment during these challenging times.

“Foxconn’s flexibility to quickly react to global markets makes opportunities with partners like this possible. In the last two months, we went from zero ventilator manufacturing capabilities to a tested, qualified ventilator manufacturing cell.”