Top start for PSA. In accordance with its commitments announced at the end of March, the French group started this week the production of parts which Air Liquide needs to manufacture respirators. Nearly one hundred employee volunteers joined this operation, in the Poissy factory, where cars are usually assembled. Objective: to manufacture 10,000 respirators in 50 days. The manufacturer is not the only one to have mobilized to contribute its stone to the fight against the epidemic: in recent weeks, many firms have completely reoriented their production. Several of them told us about this exceptional moment.
Read also: Respirators: towards a sacred union of industrialists
Let us return to César what is César: the inspiration for the industrial initiative in which PSA takes part comes from across the Channel. In mid-March, the British government sees a shortage of respirators coming. He therefore calls on manufacturers to ask them what they can provide as solutions. “ PSA has factories there. We thought about it, but, in the end, it didn't work out in the UK, ”recalls a group executive. Its industrial director, Yann Vincent, was however attracted by the idea of engaging in the production of respirators and decided to look into this matter in France. His teams went to Antony, in the workshops of Air Liquide, the main manufacturer of these devices, the week of March 24: “ we saw the points on which PSA could help in their assembly line. Everything came from the field, it was by talking with them that we looked at the mechanical unit of the respirator and that we wanted to make our skills available to them , ”we explain.
After discussions between the two firms, PSA becomes a supplier of Air Liquide and begins to refurbish its factory in Poissy to assemble the mechanical block of the respirators. The partnership is announced at the end of March. Strict conditions are enacted, both sanitary, to protect employees, and technical: " it is not a question of making sorcerer's apprentices, our employees went to train at Antony, to learn how to climb the block, and each step is approved and certified by Air Liquide ”. Selected on a voluntary basis, just under 100 workers participate in the chain, and around fifty leave to support the Air Liquide teams in Antony. The assembly training takes several days, the PSA teams having to start from scratch. But they are up to the task: " our engineers and workers are used to learning, to being flexible and agile, to changing positions ".
In a week, the engineers released the first prototypes and proposed the plans to
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