The coronavirus has shown us many things, and one of those is that in an emergency situation equipment can not be bought on the open market. Innovative and domestic ways are needed to provide equipment to patients and NHS staff.
The crisis has shown that having UK manufacturing is vital and has more value than just monetary.
The UK has around 5,000 adult ventilators and 900 child ventilators. Estimates predict that the UK will need up to 75,000 ventilators to cope with the peak surge of the epidemic. The government is aiming for 30,000 ventilators and these can’t be bought on the open market.
Within the UK there are no domestic producers of ventilators. The Global market is dominated by the US, Dutch, Swiss and a small New Zealand company. In order for the UK to fill the shortage in ventilators they need domestic manufacturing firms to adapt existing knowledge to design and produce ventilators. This can be done by manufacturers that have some similar technology and overlapping knowledge.
The speed and urgency with which these ventilators are required can be understood best by looking at the only reliable data point that we have which is the death rate. This doubles every 2.5 days.
It is a race for manufacturers to get the ventilators to the health system and speed is of vital importance.
Boris Johnson has gathered business leaders together and set a target of 30,000 new ventilators to be built from scratch. This has to be done in the UK as it is not possible to buy ventilators on the open market when other countries are going through the same surge in demand.
Dyson, best known for the production of vacuums, have cross over knowledge in terms of: digital motors, battery packs, airflow analysis and high efficiency particle filters (HEPA). Dyson has pledged 10,000 ventilators, subject to regulatory approval of their new design. There are other UK manufacturing companies such as: Rolls Royce, Jaguar Landrover and Babcock all called in to help with this crisis.
This ability to act swiftly and to respond to a crisis depends on already having existing manufacturing capabilities.
Protective Equipment for NHS Staff is another area of huge shortage. Again the response has come on a domestic scale. French luxury goods makers such as LVMH and YSL have started to switch production to the French national effort. In Spain, Zara and Mango are producing, in Italy they have Prada and Gucci. In the UK the Royal Mint is starting to produce the protective clothing.
The US have invoked the Defence Production Act which allows a President to force companies to make products for national defence. General Motors and Ford are both being forced under this act to operate in the national interest and produce ventilators.
With much manufacturing out-sourced to low cost countries, in particular to Asia and China, it is in times of national emergency that the importance and value of the local knowledge can be seen.
Countries such as the US and Germany have maintained reasonable domestic manufacturing bases, and should be able to respond to the shortage in equipment during this crisis. How the UK responds will be a reflection on the strength of the UK manufacturing base.
Another area of hope is in the from of 3D printing.
Allegedly, the fastest way to make anything in the world within a certain number of days. This is a relatively new technology, but with 10,000 printers around the world, it could be a complete game changer. In Spain they have taken a week to design a 3D ventilator, that they say anyone who has access to a 3D printer can print. They say they could build 50 to 100 a day at a cost of US$ 500 per ventilator. This crisis could prove the value of 3D printing.
The ability to adapt and respond to a crisis and produce the goods that we need is something that money can not buy. This crisis is showing us the importance of maintaining domestic manufacturing skills, knowledge and production. A strong economy needs to be balanced between manufacturing, services and government.
The coronavirus is not only testing our health system, it is also testing the real strength of our economy.
Rebel Economics 