The GTMA supplier dedicated a significant part of its manufacturing sites in Gloucestershire and South Wales to produce precision-machined components for two different ventilators manufactured by the VentilatorChallengeUK consortium, with pro- duction running seven days a week. It followed a huge effort from the project, manufacturing engineering and production teams which began in late March.
Like many companies across the UK, Renishaw reacted to the UK government’s call to radically increase ventilator production to treat coronavirus patients suffering with respiratory complications.
Tens of thousands of these complex machines were needed in just a few weeks and Marc Saunders, Director of Group Strategic Development, who led Renishaw’s response, said: “When the government called, we scrambled to respond, and immediately realised the daunting scale of the challenge. “Ventilators are sophisticated medical devices and we felt that our capabilities would be best applied to helping scale up the production of designs with existing technologies. We soon realised that many other industrial companies were thinking the same way and that we would need our combined capacity and capabilities to achieve this enormous endeavour.”
Within a few days, Renishaw joined with leading companies in the aerospace, auto- motive, medical devices and motorsport sectors to form the VentilatorChallengeUK consortium, under the leadership of Dick Elsy, CEO of the High Value Manufacturing Catapult. This diverse team began working non-stop to boost production of two proven ventilators, selected by the NHS and manufactured in the UK by Penlon and Smiths Medical.
Dick Elsy said at the time: “Penlon and Smiths ordinarily have combined capacity of between 50 and 60 ventilators per week. However, thanks to the scale and resources of the wider consortium, we are targeting production of at least 1,500 units a week of the Penlon and Smiths models combined within a matter of weeks. “Ventilators are intricate and highly complex pieces of medical equipment and it is vital that we balance the twin imperatives of speed of delivery with the absolute adherence to regulatory standards that is needed to ensure patient safety.” Within this context, Renishaw’s manufacturing activities formed part of a complex net- work of suppliers that the consortium is coordinating, many of whom, like Renishaw, began making ventilator components for the first time.
Mass-production of ventilators, each of which comprises hundreds of diverse components, requires millions of parts to come together for assembly, a huge logistical operation. Gareth Hankins, Director of Group Manufacturing Services at Renishaw, said as work began: “To prepare for the important work that we are undertaking, both for the ventilator project and our global customers in critical supply chains, we temporarily closed our UK manufacturing facilities to introduce additional measures to protect the welfare of our employees.”
The factories were reorganised to increase spacing, as well as zoning areas to restrict movement around the sites. Hygiene regimes were enhanced to minimise the potential risk of the spread of infection.
“Our staff have responded magnificently to this challenging situation and it is wonderful to see the factories back up and running and for us to be playing our part in the national Ventilator Challenge.” Marc Saunders reflected: “It has been an extraordinary few weeks, with so many companies from different fields aligning on a single goal and pulling together so effectively and so quickly. “The VentilatorChallengeUK consortium is working together with incredible determination and energy to scale up production of much-needed ventilators and combat a virus that is affecting people around the world.”
