Smiths ramps up production of ventilators in bid to meet demand

Smiths’ medical division has ramped up production of its Parapac Plus ventilator at its site in Luton to meet increased demand caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

It has been working with its supply chain to increase weekly production this week and next. The company is in dialogue with contract manufacturers in the US to increase its production levels of ventilators, to support the fight against the global shortage.

Smiths is helping the UK Government deliver its plan of 5,000 additional ventilators within two weeks, with the intention to scale availability to 30,000 over the coming months. Smiths will provide IP and technical advice, and make available its PARAPAC Plus ventilator to the Industrial Consortium formed by the UK Government, in order to create additional UK sites and supply chains to deliver the objective.

In addition to providing ventilator units, Smiths is also increasing the production of specialist ventilator hoses through its Flex-Tek division in South Carolina, US for a number of ventilator manufacturers across the world.

Andrew Reynolds Smith, CEO of Smiths, said: “During this time of national and global crisis it is our duty to assist in the efforts being made to tackle this devastating pandemic and I have been inspired by the hard work undertaken by our employees to achieve this aim. We are doing everything possible to substantially increase production of our ventilators at our Luton site and worldwide. Alongside this we are at the centre of the UK consortium working to set up further sites to materially increase the numbers available to the NHS and to other countries impacted by this crisis.”