#TeamUHDB thanks Rolls-Royce for help during COVID
Keen to help the NHS during the COVID-19 pandemic, engineering giants Rolls-Royce rose to the challenge and set up production lines to produce and donate thousands of visors for frontline healthcare workers.
In collaboration with UHDB, Rolls-Royce rapidly proposed a number of visor designs with consideration made to reuse and a minimal number of parts, making it easy to assemble and disassemble.
Jonathan Watson, Chief Manufacturing Engineer, Civil Future Programmes and Technology, Rolls-Royce “We wanted to help the NHS in any way we could. We heard about a colleague at Rolls-Royce in Germany who was using a 3D printer to manufacture face shields for healthcare workers. We have many non-metallic 3D printers across our facilities, which we ordinarily use for anything from making models and tooling to training apprentices. We knew we could replicate the design and start to manufacture the shields too. Once we started speaking to colleagues, we realised that many of us had the same idea, the capabilities to make it happen, and wanted help in any way we could.
“In Derby, the team set up a production line on site using a fleet of nine 3D printers, with many more employees, friends and families using their 3D printers at home. The printers have been running almost 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and more than 12,000 visors have been delivered in the East Midlands to date, with well more than 8,000 of these going to Royal Derby Hospital.
“It’s been a real community effort: when we were struggling to get hold of enough acetate sheets for the transparent component of the visor, local schools and councils helped us by delivering spare materials that they had. This enabled us to continue delivering face shields while more robust supply chains were established.
“Seeing and hearing the responses from care homes, GPs and Royal Derby Hospital has been very moving. Knowing we’ve helped the NHS makes us all feel very proud.”
James Mayne, Programme Manager at UHDB says “Rolls-Royce were fast to offer their help to us. With their incredible experience, knowledge and expertise in this field they were able to scale up to provide a regular weekly volume at speed that made such a positive impact.
We also have the benefit of being able to send the visors through our washrooms enabling us to reuse. This is particularly helpful as minimises waste for us when staff only need a visor for a short period of time.”
Kevin Downs, Executive Director of Finance and Performance, UHDB says “As with many businesses the Trust has been overwhelmed with the offers of support particularly in the area of PPE, and we would like to thank Rolls Royce for their help with manufacturing visors.
"Rolls-Royce’s ability to react quickly and flexibly to develop this manufacturing capability was simply amazing and a testament to the professionalism of the organisation.”