JCB halts its production of parts for hospital ventilators
JCB has stood down production lines which were been poised to produce thousands of parts for hospital ventilators.
The housings were being made for the Covent device produced by Dyson and TTP as part of the national Ventilator Challenge.
On Friday the Cabinet Office confirmed that, following re-assessment from a panel of expert clinicians, it was ending support of the Covent and four other devices because they would require further development before they would be ready for clinical testing, and they were not required to meet immediate demand.
Rocester-based digger firm JCB joined a national call to action to tackle the ventilator shortage in March and restarted production at a plant in Staffordshire - closed because of the coronavirus crisis - to produce prototypes.
JCB’S chairman Lord Bamford had promised to help in any way the company could after a Government appeal to help plug the shortage and he immediately mobilised a research and engineering team to examine ways to assist.
However this week the company has confirmed it has stood down its production lines at JCB Cab Systems in Uttoxeter, which had been ready to make up to 10,000 housings.
Lord Bamford said: “We have stood ready to help in any way we could in the production of housings for a new type of ventilator and our production lines were in a position to start manufacturing immediately.
“I’m very proud of all the hard work the team has put into this project and as a British company we would do it all again to help at a time of national need.”
The first prototypes rolled off the line at JCB’S £50 million Cab Systems factory in Uttoxeter and underwent several design iterations.
The original prototype in JCB yellow was made out of steel before the team worked on a new design, manufactured in aluminium and painted in NHS white and grey.
The project went from design to production in just a matter of days after JCB deployed a talented engineering, design and fabrication team to answer the national call for help.