Alloy Wire supplying 5 km of wire for U.K. company rushing to produce ventilators
Alloy Wire International (AWI) is producing more than 5 km of wire that will be used for crucial parts in ventilators that are badly needed by the Nightingale Hospital in London.
A press release said that the company is producing the wire for Nightingale Hospital, but that it has also been serving other such orders. The company put its emergency manufacturing service into action to meet the urgent requirements of a spring maker that is supplying the ramp-up of Smiths and Penlon Rapidly Manufactured Ventilator Systems. The initiative is part of the VentilatorChallengeUK Consortium, which includes significant U.K. industrial, technology and engineering businesses from across the aerospace, automotive and medical sectors.
Interest has also come from North America and South Korea, with AWI supplying urgent quantities of custom-made Inconel spring wire and 316v stainless steel to a spring maker in Wisconsin and a major medical center in Seoul respectively, the release said.
“We work with over 5,000 customers every year and we knew a lot of them supplied into critical sectors that deliver essential services,” said AWI Managing Director Mark Venables. “The Covid-19 pandemic has brought this sharply into view and, over the last week, we have been busy manufacturing a range of wire for companies that are playing a crucial role in supporting the frontline, often meeting extremely demanding timelines in the process.”
Venables said that AI has supplied a customer that had to remake springs destined for ventilator production due to an untimely power cut, and for another client that made a 280-mile round trip to collect its order. “In both cases, we did our bit by making the wire in just two days.”
AWI’s product range includes a number of medical suitable materials, including Phynox, MP35N, Stainless 316LVM, Nickel 200&201 and Inconels. AWI has been working around the clock to meet the requirements of existing and new customers, with material available from 0.025 mm to 21 mm in small batches or medium/large volumes. The company notes that it also provides wire that goes into electric heating elements used for medical plastic forming and for the critical sterilization of vital equipment.
“We are very proud of the heroic actions of frontline NHS and social care staff and this is our own small way of supporting them to help save lives,” said AWI Sales Director Angus Hogath.
Source:Wire Journal International
