Reno Company Increases Production on Ventilator Parts

Triad Technologies is a local company of about 35 employees in south Reno. It mainly specializes in manufacturing components for medical devices, including ventilators. It has produced the parts for about 20 years, but now it is ramping up production. Many hospitals are facing a shortage of ventilators because of the COVID-19 outbreak.

"We're building 10,000 of these for them right now," Greg Latimer, Chief Executive Steward for Triad Technologies said. "We just go a call for them and they want 30,000 additional right after this, and then possibly 50,000 after that so it's just exploding."

Triad Technologies builds about 1,000 parts per day. Then the company sends them to Sacramento-based Vortran Medical Technologies to build portable ventilators. It can manufacture about 2,000 of them per week. Latimer says this is a good way to close the gap on the worldwide shortage of ventilators. He also says it is a better plan than other industries changing over to manufacture them, like car companies who might not have the equipment yet.

"If someone's already making ventilators, they're the best people to start ramping up," Latimer said. "For us, it's just this little guy but if you're really making ventilators, that's who they should increase the production with."

Latimer says the portable ventilators are less-expensive than the high-tech breathing machines in some hospitals and companies can build them much faster. He says each portable ventilator costs about $100.

"You talk about that compared to, my understanding is the larger real respirators are around $12,000," Latimer said. "Plus they're hugely difficult to make."

These pieces of equipment may be much more low-tech, but Latimer says they will still save lives. 

"If you have both, I would use the more expensive one," Latimer said. "However, this can be produced in a lot of quantity, very quickly, and so it will keep people alive." 

The plastic component has a device that measures the pressure of the patient's lungs. It has dials to adjust the amount of oxygen as well as a pressure valve. 

"This, you hook up to an oxygen bottle so there's no electricity on these at all," Latimer said. "So you can use them anywhere."

Triad Technologies builds these devices for portable ventilators. 

Triad Technologies operates for 20 hours a day, four days a week. That could increase because of the demand for the devices. Latimer says he wants to run 24 hours a day, five days a week while the parts are needed. The company might hire more employees, temporarily.

"We're hiring people that, frankly, are out of work and we're thankful to do that," Latimer said.

Triad Technologies is also building parts for another local company that is conducting DNA and RNA research to find a vaccine for COVID-19. Latimer says he is happy to provide a small but critical component in the fight against coronavirus.

"It's very humbling but we're not haughty about it," Latimer said. "We're just thankful that we're in place and able to provide life-saving devices to people that need them."

Hospitals throughout the Truckee Meadows say they have adequate supplies for now. Some say donations of surgical masks, gloves, gowns, hand sanitizer and protective glasses are appreciated because hospitals around the world are facing shortages.