Two of Arburg’s customers are helping to support the fight against coronavirus by supplying vital items for the health service.
GTMA Member – AMS Technical Plastics
This company makes electronic switches and connectors for a global sensor company, and last week AMS received an order for 1,800 switch units for ventilators for the French government. To fulfil the order, managing director, Jim Kelly, said: “We pulled out the stops, did a 24-hour shift and dispatched the order within the given timescale.”
AMS who are based in Littleborough, Greater Manchester, are also helping a company next door to them to supply medical containers for hospitals that are running on overdrive due to the pandemic. The reason AMS’ offered assistance was because the neighbour company had a spike in requirements for the containers from the NHS. Therefore, according to Kelly: “We stepped in with a 24-hour rush programme to fill in the missing capacity.”
The NHS needs a wide range of medical equipment, and so AMS is now assisting in supplying the NHS with sharps bins for disposing used needles and blades.
Additionally, AMS has received a letter from BAE Systems, a key customer, which states that the company has critical supplier status according to HM Government during this period.
Working measures have been put in place to keep employees as safe as possible, including realigning shift patterns and implementing social distancing and correct entry and exit procedures from the building.
Kelly concluded: “We are humbled to be able to support the frontline medical care services and critical supply sectors.”
The company, which is based in Newtown, Mid-Wales, manufactures injection moulded parts for the cellular pathology industry, as well as making stains and reagents for use in cancer diagnosis.
CellPath formulated and manufactured a hand sanitiser to the World Health Organisation specification for its employees soon after coronavirus broke in the UK, and the company is now preparing for large scale production of the hand wash when it receives regulatory approval.
Neil Haine, research and development director at CellPath commented: “This will ramp-up production from 200 litres to 1,000 litres per day, when the approval comes from the health and safety executive.” However, Haine pointed out that this relies on having access to the right raw materials which are currently in short supply.
Talking about cancer during the coronavirus lockdown, Haine said: “For us cancer is not taking a back step. We are making the handwash to keep our staff safe in order to keep supplying these critical plastic moulded products.”
In terms of on-site safety measures, the company has set out markers on the factory floor to mark suitable distancing gaps between workers, rejigged production lines to maintain the recommended two-metre distance, and all doors are fixed open to avoid touching them. “Where doors cannot be left open we have 3D-printed a device to open the door using your arm not the hand,” Haine said.
CellPath is also 3D-printing face shields as part of the organised scheme to supply the NHS with Personal Protection Equipment (PPE).
Colin Tirel, managing director, Arburg, concluded: “We are delighted to be playing an important part in supporting these and many more customers through this incredibly difficult and challenging time that we find ourselves in. We have a long history in supplying machines and associated technology to the medical sector throughout the UK and Ireland and this is becoming more high profile as time has gone on.”
