JCB has announced it will re-start production at one of its UK factories to manufacture ventilators to help in the fight against Covid-19.
The manufacturer received a direct appeal from Prime Minister Boris Johnson to help plug the national ventilator shortage. JCB chairman Lord Bamford responded by mobilising a research and engineering team to examine potential ways to assist the efforts.
Now JCB is ready to start production at a factory which has been closed for nearly two weeks. The plant will make special steel housings for a new design of ventilator from Dyson. A minimum of 10,000 of the JCB housings are earmarked for manufacture once Dyson receives regulatory approval for its design.
JCB explained that the first prototypes of the housings have been delivered to Dyson after rolling off the production line at its £50 million Cab Systems factory in Uttoxeter.
Lord Bamford said, “When we were approached by the Prime Minister we were determined, as a British company, to help in any way we could. This project has gone from design to production in just a matter of days and I am delighted that we have been to deploy the skills of our talented engineering, design and fabrication teams so quickly at a time of national crisis. This is also a global crisis, of course, and we will naturally help with the production of more housings if these ventilators are eventually required by other countries.”
Around 50 JCB employees affected by a company shutdown will return to work to assist with the project. They will be paid 100% of their normal salary.
JCB previously announced the suspension of production at its nine UK production plants until at least the end of April.
