The idea came from China, where employees at joint venture Changan Ford had begun making masks for workers there. Price learned of the mask production March 24, a few days after being named manufacturing lead for Ford’s Project Apollo, an ad hoc scramble to build ventilators, respirators and plastic face shields in the U.S.
He shot a text to colleagues in China one evening on WeChat, asking about the feasibility of face mask production in the U.S. as well. A half-hour later, he was on the phone with a number of officials, including the CEO of Ford Taiwan, as Changan Ford had obtained its mask-making machines from that island.
By the time Price woke up the next morning, the team in China had located the necessary equipment: 10 machines, roughly 20 to 25 feet long, each capable of rolling out 100,000 masks a day. Ford had the first two available machines quickly delivered to its Lio Ho Motor Co. joint-venture plant in Taiwan. The machines were then trucked to the closest airport, and…
