1530: Construction work begins on Vaccines Manufacturing and Innovation Centre
Construction work has begun ahead of schedule to build the highly specialist facility that will house the Vaccines Manufacturing and Innovation Centre (VMIC). VMIC, a not for profit organisation, will provide the country’s first bespoke strategic vaccine development and manufacturing capability.
A rapidly accelerated programme will aim to see the 7,000 m2 (footprint) state-of-the-art facility opening its doors in 2021, ahead of the original scheduled date in 2022. An unprecedented collaborative effort between The Vaccines Manufacturing and Innovation Centre, Harwell Campus, Vale of the White Horse District Council, UK Research and Innovation, and Glencar, the main contractor, has accelerated the construction of this complex build in order to bring the facility on line early so that it can provide an emergency response capability for the UK.
Dr Matthew Duchars, Chief Executive of VMIC, said: “Whilst no-one could have predicted the Covid-19 outbreak we are doing all we can to fast track the build so VMIC is set-up to offer long-term support to the UK’s future vaccines needs whilst simultaneously contributing right now to the vital work that will help us emerge from this pandemic.
“As well as working with the Harwell team and contractors to deliver the build rapidly ahead of schedule, VMIC scientists and engineers are working round the clock as part of the BIA CoViD19 Taskforce, and alongside Oxford University advising on manufacturing options of the vaccine candidate ChAdOx1 nCoV-19, which has recently opened for trial.”
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1240: Beckoff offers virtual learning to customers
To support industry in remaining connected and productive during the ongoing COVID-19 situation, automation technology specialist Beckhoff Automation UK is running a series of “virtual visit” webinars. Taking place every Wednesday, the webinars aim to provide engineers, technicians and industrial managers with practical information on key automation technologies and issues. Information on the upcoming webinars is available on the Beckhoff UK blog.
Each webinar will be available on the Beckhoff blog after broadcast. They will remain accessible alongside the existing EtherCAT network diagnostics and debugging webinar that Beckhoff ran at the beginning of April 2020.
Alongside the ongoing webinars, Beckhoff UK will arrange a series of virtual visits directly with customers, to help them plan and adapt around the ongoing effects of the COVID-19 situation on industry.
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1215: Millions of new virus testing kits go into production
Chartwell Consulting, the manufacturing improvement specialist, is assisting its client, Novacyt, in the rapid ramp-up of its production and worldwide distribution of four million more essential COVID-19 tests per month.
Chartwell Consulting has been engaged by Novacyt – the international clinical diagnostics specialist – and its molecular diagnostics division, Primerdesign, to assist with quickly scaling up the business and is managing and supporting the planning, procurement and logistics for the capacity increase that is required to produce the additional testing kits.
Andy Redfern, Partner at Chartwell Consulting said: “Novacyt and Primerdesign are now in the position to be able to double their capacity and produce an additional four million tests per month for testing centres in the UK and across the globe.
“Our senior team of consultants are working within Novacyt to assist with the management of the scale-up plans, helping to deliver the planned increases in production and supply chain capability.
“We’re pleased to be supporting Novacyt on such a significant global project fighting the spread of COVID-19. We recognised the need to act quickly and work with local operations teams to ensure an efficient response to address demand.
“We’re known for our hands-on approach and experience in manufacturing, supply chain management and rapid improvement, which we’re now demonstrating during this project.”
With manufacturing partnerships now signed with a number of large pharmaceutical firms, Novacyt will continue to scale up its production of test kits over the next three months.
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1115: NMiTE supports Covid-19 response
New Model Institute for Technology and Engineering (NMITE) has converted its administration offices at Gardner Hall, Hereford into a makeshift factory producing vitally needed PPE items for both NHS acute hospitals and local care homes. Operated 24/7 by NMITE staff, the factory has so far manufactured over 500 and delivered over 300 headshields - 3D printed forehead bands with see-through Acetate visors - to front line health care workers at Hereford County Hospital, local GP surgeries, Hampton House nursing home, and Wye Valley NHS Trust’s community palliative care team, among others.
NMiTE, which yesterday (20 April) named James Newby as its new COO, has received an order for 1,000 headshields, each with five disposable visors, from NHS Herefordshire and Worcestershire CCG to distribute at care homes across the region.
Professor Elena Rodriguez-Falcon, President and CEO of NMITE comments on them making resources available and responding directly to the shortages in PPE: “All the news has been about the need to supply PPE to front line health care workers, and we are responding by harnessing the capabilities of our team to deliver new engineering solutions to increase production and delivery targets and working closely with clinicians, senior NHS directors and our partners including the local further education college and schools to pool resources such as 3D printers.”
