WINDSOR — The president of Laval International in Windsor calls a plan by Ottawa to support manufacturers to scale up production of medical equipment a "realistic and good plan."
On Friday, Public Services and Procurement Minister Anita Anand said her department asked manufacturers across the country to let Ottawa know what they would be able to provide and more than 5,800 companies responded.
The plan introduces new measures to directly support business to rapidly scale up production or re-tool their manufacturing lines to develop products, made in Canada, that will help fight COVID-19.
The province also announced on Saturday a website called "Ontario Together" for manufacturers to step up to produce medical supplies to ensure frontline healthcare workers have the tools to combat COVID-19.
Laval President Jonathan Azzopardi says if companies are capable of making a quick adjustment with their current equipment, the change could take place within days, but he says it is vital to get the ball rolling.
"I'm going to say in a matter of days probably, if we worked at it," he says. "I do assembly here and I actually do medical equipment here so if you are already set up for it and you already have the systems in place which most automotive manufacturing plants do, we have the systems to be able to adopt."
He says the Windsor-Essex Economic Corporation is compiling a list of companies and their capabilities and how they could adjust their operations to make medical supplies, protective equipment, diagnostic products and disease tracking technology.
Azzopardi says most manufacturing systems are already adaptable .
"Most of us are already in the business of making things so it's not really much of a transition for us," he says. "So certifications can sometimes be a struggle, but generally speaking if we have all of the information and we have all of the tooling, it can be done quite easily actually."
The federal government has been able to secure more than 11 million N95 respirator masks and delivery will begin immediately.
The minister's goal is to be 'over prepared' since the global demand will continue to climb.