Williams Advanced Engineering (WAE) playing a significant role in an Aerospace consortium to produce medical ventilators for use by the NHS
Oxfordshire-based Williams Advanced Engineering (WAE) has announced it will be playing a significant role in a consortium of UK industrial, technology and engineering businesses from across the aerospace, automotive and medical sectors, who have come together to rapidly produce medical ventilators in response to the coronavirus crisis.
Last month, the company were engaged by the Ventilator Challenge UK Consortium to conduct re-engineering activity on the ParaPAC300 ventilator unit, producing a number of prototype ventilator components within two weeks.
The VentilatorChallengeUK Consortium is led by the High Value Manufacturing Catapult, a group of manufacturing research centres in the UK and, as well as WAE, includes Airbus, GKN, Rolls-Royce, PA Consulting, Thales, Siemens, Mclaren and BAE Systems. One of the projects is to rapidly produce an initial batch of 5,000 Smiths Group ParaPAC300 ventilators for the NHS.
The majority of the work has been undertaken at WAE’s Grove facility or by personnel working remotely from home and to date and has involved over 50 staff members.
Craig Wilson, Managing Director of Williams Advanced Engineering, said: “We are proud to be working with so many innovative partners on this project. Williams Advanced Engineering prides itself on speed of response and rapid turnaround; skills we can really maximise as part of the VentilatorChallengeUK Consortium. We are all determined that the results of our collective efforts will make a huge difference and save lives”.
