VentilatorChallengeUK ships the last of its ventilators

VentilatorChallengeUK, a project formed in mid-March in response to the expected increase in COVID-19 cases, has dispatched the final shipment of finished ventilators. The consortium of UK aerospace, automotive, motorsport and medical businesses has more than doubled the UK’s stock of ventilators by scaling up the production of Smith Group’s portable paraPac ventilator.

Seven new large-scale manufacturing facilities were established from scratch at Airbus AMRC Cymru, Ford, Mclaren, Rolls-Royce, GKN Aerospace and STI during the project, led by High-Value Manufacturing Catapult, Chief Executive, Dick Elsy.

The consortium also acquired approximately forty-two million parts and electronic components through a sophisticated logistics network and set up new parallel supply chains.

During the lockdown, parts were a challenge to acquire; however, the team sourced parts from over twenty-two countries, with the furthest distance travelled by a single part being over five-thousand miles.

Elsy stated: “What VentilatorChallengeUK has achieved in the space of twelve weeks is nothing short of incredible, creating and producing an approved product and setting up production facilities on this scale would normally take years. Together, we have helped ensure the NHS has always had access to the number of ventilators it needs and we’re pleased to have also contributed to building a resilient stock should ventilators be required in the UK in the future.”