JCB factory set to produce ventilators to help NHS in fight against coronavirus – The Sun

A JCB factory is set to be transformed to produce life-saving ventilators to boost the NHS in its fight against coronavirus.

The plant, in Uttoxeter, Staffs, is normally used to manufacture cabs for the company's iconic diggers.

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But the site was closed two weeks ago until at least the end of April in the wake of the coronavirus crisis.

Now around 50 staff will return to work to produce steel holdings for ventilators, designed by Dyson, which will be fast-tracked into NHS hospitals.

The first prototypes have already been created and the government has ordered 10,000 of the ventilators.

JCB was directly approached by Prime Minister Boris Johnson earlier this month to help produce the crucial equipment.

Company founder Lord Bamford said: "This project has gone from design to production in just a matter of days

"This is also a global crisis, of course, and we will naturally help with the production of more housings if these ventilators are eventually required by other countries."

JCB had suspended production at its nine UK plants on 18 March, until at least the end of April.

It is among a host of British companies including Rolls Royce and McLaren F1 to lend expertise to the life-saving push.

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Vacuum cleaner builder and engineering firm Dyson announced earlier this week ministers had asked it to produce thousands of ventilators to help in the fight against the pandemic.

Billionaire entrepreneur Sir James Dyson said in a staff email that an initial order has been placed for its CoVent design, promising a donation of an additional 5,000 to the international effort.

A design for the battery-operated device, which would attach to patients' beds, took about 10 days to work up but is yet to get regulatory approval.

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