How do companies go from making cars today to making medical equipment tomorrow?
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They cant in general. Some would be able to convert in weeks, most would take months for the direct equipment. But there are a lot of other kinds of equipment that need to be made to support things.
Stuff like beds, generators, and the like for triage sites can be made immediately. As can things like face masks, goggles, gowns, etc. Even things like sterilization equipment can be shifted to fairly quickly as they are somewhat simple to make.
Typically you have the industries that make similar things retool to make something that is needed. For example during WWII you had car manufacturers making military vehicles, etc. So most car makers would not be able to retool for medical equipment typically. But Musk is a bit different with his companies. His companies are extremely tech focused which means they have clean rooms already. They have high tech equipment that can make complex things and so it is potentially possible for him to shift things in some of his plants to start making more complex medical equipment in a relatively short period of time.
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