First picture of the ventilator production line at AMRC Broughton

A first picture showing the medical ventilator production line at Broughton’s Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre (AMRC) has been released.

The picture was taken last week and has been published by Airbus, a key partner in the VentilatorChallengeUK consortium.

Penlon’s Prima ES02 model – which is being made at Broughton – was authorised last week by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) for use in hospitals to support coronavirus patients.

Penlon has worked with the VentilatorChallengeUK consortium which, alongside Airbus includes High Value Manufacturing Catapult, Siemens and a number of UK based F1 teams.

Oxford based Penlon’s production lines have been replicated at a number of sites across the UK including at the Advanced Manufacturing Research Facility next door to Airbus Broughton.

Following the device’s approval, the Government confirmed an order for 15,000 Penlon devices and production is now being scaled up.

At AMRC Broughton, production will take place round the clock with more than 500 employees working shifts – 125 per shift – to ensure they can manufacture, test and distribute units to the front line as quickly as possible.

The first dispatch of 40 Ventilator Challenge Penlon devices will be sent to MOD Donnington on Thursday and are set to reach the NHS front line shortly.

Dick Elsy, CEO of the High Value Manufacturing Catapult and Chair of the VentilatorChallengeUK consortium said:

“I’m very pleased to confirm that we have now secured MHRA approval for the Penlon Prima ESO2 device which has been undergoing stringent testing and clinical trials for the last two weeks.

Ventilators of this type are complex and critical pieces of medical equipment so ensuring the absolute adherence to regulatory standards and meeting clinical needs were always our priorities.

We will now accelerate the ramp up of production at the Penlon site in Oxfordshire and the new VCUK production lines we’ve built in Broughton, Dagenham, Woking and Maidenhead.

Having already commenced deliveries of the Smiths Group’s paraPAC plus devices, we are working closely with our supply chain partners to rapidly scale up production to achieve our target of at least 1,500 units a week of the combined Penlon and Smiths models.

I want to take this opportunity to again thank every member of the consortium and the hundreds of dedicated colleagues who have been working day and night to get us to this point.”