JCB factory to begin manufacturing ventilators amid shortage
JCB’S UK factory has joined the global call to action over ventilator shortage
JCB in the United Kingdom is poised to re-start production at a factory closed as a result of the coronavirus crisis in order to join the global effort to manufacture ventilators.
JCB received a direct appeal from UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson earlier this month to help plug the national ventilator shortage and to help save lives of coronavirus patients. Now, JCB is ready to restart production at a factory in the UK which has been closed for nearly two weeks as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.
Instead of making cabs for JCB equipment, the plant is being mobilized to make special steel housings for a brand-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.
The first prototypes of the housings have been delivered to Dyson after rolling off the production line at JCB's $62 million Cab Systems factory in Uttoxeter, Staffordshire. The factory fell silent on March 18th along with eight other JCB UK manufacturing plants after a fall in demand caused by the virus.
JCB's response to the call to action would see the return to work for around 50 UK employees affected by the extended company shutdown.