APRIL 2020
NEWS www.theengineer.CO.UK
Government calls on
manufacturers to help
make NHS ventilators
Shortage of critical equipment prompts plea to industry
Amid growing concerns over
the shortage of critical
equipment required to treat
some Coronavirus patients,
the government has asked
UK manufacturers to turn their
hands to the production and
assembly of ventilators.
With the NHS expected to
require more ventilators than the
5000 devices currently thought to
be in circulation, prime minister
Boris Johnson spoke to engineering
firms on March 16, 2020 about how
they might support the production
of essential medical equipment.
Stephen Phipson, CEO of
manufacturers’ organisation Make
UK, told The Engineer that there
have been many offers of help from
across the UK, adding that the UK’s
contract manufacturing base is well
placed to rise to the challenge.
“We have a very strong contract
manufacturing sector in the UK
which is used to being given other
people’s patents and designs and
being tasked to produce them,”
he said. “It may need government
action to smooth this process very
quickly, but it can be done.”
One company interested
in helping out is contract
manufacturer PP Control &
Automation, which employs 230
people at its site in Walsall.
The firm’s CEO Tony Hague
told The Engineer that thanks to
prior experience working for the
medical sector, his organisation is
well-placed to rise to the challenge.
“If there is a UK call to arms, we’re
very happy to fully support it,” he
said. “We can turn our hands to
most things, ventilators being one
of them. We have experience in the
medical industry, we’ve assembled
macerators, and endoscopic
sanitising machinery and
ophthalmic test equipment.”
Hague said that contract
manufacturers have existing
engineering, supply chain and
production capabilities and are
used to scaling at speed. He added
that large prime contractors, such
as those found in the UK aerospace
sector, are also well-equipped to
respond to the assembly demands
of a nationwide push.
Commenting on the practical
challenges of switching to the
production of ventilators, Hague
said it would largely be a case of
April 2020 / www.theengineer.co.uk 8
ensuring that the right skilled and
unskilled manual labour is in place
rather than investing in production
equipment.
One of the biggest challenges,
he added, will be mobilising the
supply chain, and ensuring that key
components can be readily sourced.
“Ventilators carry a lot of
electronics which largely come
from overseas and may already be
in short supply,” said Phipson.
Another critical issue is
quality. “If you’ve got a number
of companies involved, making
these things for the first time…
there have obviously got to be very
strict guidelines in terms of quality
control,” said Hague. “You need to
manage the design, manufacturing
operation and test all the way
through the end to end supply chain
so that you then have a product
which is fit for purpose.”
Jon Excell reports
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