Working Around the Clock to Make Ventilator Parts During the COVID-19 Pandemic

As a Gloucester engineering business the Stratos Precision Engineering team are among the fleet-of-foot UK firms which have adapted overnight to meet the urgent demand for ventilators to help Coronavirus COVID-19 patients.

Based on Waterwells Business Park, Quedgeley, we're one of the many firms in overdrive racing to make good the emergency NHS order for parts for the life-saving machines.

Hospitals nationwide are already dealing with rising numbers of patients struggling to breathe and are bracing themselves for a spike in numbers which has caused the dramatic rise in the need for more ventilators.

It is a deadline all too apparent to Stratos managing director Jonathan Caple who said

"We have become part of the ventilator challenge and have five different components to manufacture totalling 30,000. We've never built these parts before. It is quite an ask," 

"We only had the order on Wednesday 1st April and have been driving up and down the country getting tooling and materials. We've also been on the phone to other customers asking if we can prioritise this order and everyone has been really helpful.

"Staff have adapted brilliantly to a new shift pattern, with engineers coming in at 6am and working till 12 midnight. I was in until 3am today (3rd April).

"The supply chain must be huge - but I am sending emails at 11pm, 12am and 1am and getting replies straight away - so we are not the only ones working around the clock."

The team of experienced engineers at Stratos Precision Engineering operate a full workshop of CNC milling, routing, turning and sliding head machines and specialise in adapting fast for clients and meeting tight deadlines - but this effort has required everyone to go over and above.

Equipment like its Citizen L32 sliding head CNC lathe is capable of working independently through the night and has been utilised for this particular project.

"We have 8,000 parts made already of the 30,000. There is a deadline of half for Monday (6th April) - 15,000 parts, and we will hit that.

"Staff agreed to work through the weekend and te balance of the order will be delivered later in the week," said Jon, who set up the ISO9001:2015 accredited business with engineer Mark Vine in 2012.

"This is one of those orders we would like to shout about, and would like to win more business from, but really it is about the bigger picture and that is what we are focused on. The real heroes are the people out there on the front line who will put everything we make to good use."

If you are looking for an established plastic and metal component manufacturer to help with vital parts during the Coronavirus outbreak to help the NHS, get in touch by emailing sales@stratosengineering.co.uk or telephone 01452 840422.