Coronavirus: Aston Martin starts making PPE for frontline workers

Aston Martin has joined other global automotive brands in providing Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) to frontline workers during the Coronavirus crisis. The British luxury carmaker is working on a new respiratory protection device, protective visors and gowns for NHS workers.

Working with its project partner, Multimatic, Aston Martin is helping the MTC (Manufacturing Technology Centre) produce a new respiratory protection device. This intubation shield is a Perspex box that goes over a patient’s upper body during procedures, protecting the medical staff but also allowing them the access they need to the patient.

Aston Martin and Multimatic have assisted the MTC by designing and creating a tool so that the Perspex component can be made in one piece, which then allows the boxes to be stacked, taking up less room in busy intensive care wards. Aston Martin is also utilising cutting machines at Gaydon, normally used to cut out leather shapes for car interiors, to cut out the silicone components that are used in the assembly of the box.

Aston Martin Lagonda President and Group Chief Executive, Andy Palmer, said: “The local community is very important to Aston Martin so we are delighted to be able to help our local hospitals. The frontline NHS workers are protecting us from Covid-19 so we want to do what we can and try to protect them by supplying visors and gowns. Times of crisis are also times of great innovation and we are delighted to be working with Multimatic and the MTC to produce the intubation shield for the intensive care staff. Everyone we approached stepped up without hesitation and they should all be proud.”

Additionally, using the latest 3D printing technology, Aston Martin will soon be producing 150 protective visors each week. The Aston Martin Design team is working with local Warwick Hospital to develop a protective visor that meets the NHS infection control guidelines. The first batch will go into production next week and will be assembled in the Aston Martin Design Studio at Gaydon by volunteer staff who are abiding by the Government’s social distancing guidelines. Delivery will be made in the DBX, Aston Martin’s new SUV.

Aston Martin received a request for protective gowns from the procurement departments of hospitals local to its headquarters in Warwickshire. After sourcing materials, the company has submitted a sample gown to the NHS with a view to starting production next week. With work force to produce up to 750 gowns each week at its headquarters in Gaydon, the company hopes to make a difference to the frontline workers in local hospitals as soon as possible.

Meanwhile, volunteer technicians and back office staff at Aston Martin Works, the heritage home of the brand in Newport Pagnell, Buckinghamshire, are running a scheme to offer emergency vehicle repairs to NHS staff at the nearby Milton Keynes University Hospital.

Paul Spires, President of Aston Martin Works, explains: “At this critical time for the NHS, we want to try to do our bit to keep the vital key workers of Milton Keynes hospital on the road if we possibly can. All the Works team members involved in the project are offering their skills on a voluntary basis, and they are thrilled to be able to give something back to the NHS at this time of unprecedented pressure on hospital staff.”