Robotics specialist Sewtec plans to manufacture ventilators to help NHS fight coronavirus pandemic

THE Wakefield-based industrial robotics specialist Sewtec Automation is waiting to hear if it can manufacture medical ventilators for the NHS after responding to the Government’s call for help.

For patients critically ill with Covid-19, ventilators get oxygen into the lungs and remove carbon dioxide from the body when people are unable to breathe on their own. The NHS needs around another 20,000 machines as soon as possible.

The £28m turnover, 116 employee company helps to deliver complex industrial automation systems for global blue-chip clients including those in the medical and pharmaceutical sectors.

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Sewtec Automation has the entire range of engineering and manufacturing capabilities in-house which means it can respond rapidly to urgent demands. These skills and capabilities mean the business is ideally placed to help manufacture the life-saving equipment for the NHS.

Ready to go: Sewtecs managing director, Mark Cook (pictured), says his company is eager to help the NHSReady to go: Sewtecs managing director, Mark Cook (pictured), says his company is eager to help the NHS
Ready to go: Sewtecs managing director, Mark Cook (pictured), says his company is eager to help the NHS

Sewtec Automation registered its details on the government website on March 17 following the call for help from the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy and is standing by to mobilise its resources.

Sewtec Automation’s managing director, Mark Cook, said: “We are eager to help the NHS by using our skills to produce ventilators. Our in-house engineering skills are world-class, directly relevant to the manufacture of precision medical devices and available to help in any capacity, however small.

“We recognise that the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy is probably overwhelmed with current events. We just want them to know we are standing by to play our part during this extraordinary set of circumstances. If anyone can help us make connections to accelerate the project, I would ask that they please contact me directly.”

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