The news program 60 Minutes has highlighted GM and Ford’s efforts to fight COVID-19.

The segment starts out with a quotation from Bill Ford. He says, “It is terrible that a crisis like this has to remind people how important the manufacturing base is.” Quite an interesting point from the leader of a company that had an epic fight with the President of the United States over this very topic just three years ago. That spat ultimately ended with three main outcomes. First, Mark Fields was ousted from Ford and is no longer even in the auto industry. Second, Ford canceled some plans for expansion in Mexico and shifted more production to the U.S., and third, Ford discovered that it could no longer manufacturer affordable sedans in America using UAW labor and cut three key models.

The program (which you can watch by clicking the above YouTube link) overviews the work that both GM and Ford are doing to help make needed medical equipment during the COVID-19 crisis.

One novel aspect of the segment is that the host, Norah O’Donnell, did the interviews remotely. Apparently, Norah won’t take the same risks that her camera crews will. Or that every volunteer GM worker on the ventilator production line is taking. Perhaps it was a wise move for everyone involved.

Bill Ford also closes the segment saying, “We need to do everything we can to manufacture things to keep people safe.”

Still images courtesy of YouTube and 60 Minutes‘ YouTube Channel.