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The government turned down an offer from the EU because Europe which is a bit worrying. There are plenty of medical equipment manufacturers in the UK who've ma

by DanBC 7y ago

The government turned down an offer from the EU because Europe which is a bit worrying. There are plenty of medical equipment manufacturers in the UK who've made these exact products before, or very similar products, and who know the rules and regulations well. They've offered to help, but not heard anything back from the government. https://twitter.com/BBCNewsnight/status/1242949236762738692 https://twitter.com/BBCNewsnight/status/1242949236762738692 These are the kinds of things that we will have to hold the government to account for at some point.

altacc 7y ago
Dyson and others efforts are additional to the two ventilator manufacturers in the UK, who have already received orders for about as much as they can produce. From the article: "...the government thinks it can procure a further 8,000 from existing domestic and international suppliers"
- DanBC 7y ago
  Yes, but those 8000 orders are piecemeal from any supplier that has any kind of stock, a few hundred here, a few dozen there. There's not a coordinated drive to support those manfs to increase their production. As you say, the Dyson effort was a separate programme. Existing medical equipment manufacturers -companies that make medical equipment but not necessarily these ventilators at the moment- tried to apply to that separate scheme and they were ignored. The money went to Dyson or car makers. It's probably better to spend the money on companies that already make medical products and help them increase their capacity than it is to spend it on car makers and Dyson who'll need to re-tool their factories and re-train their staff.
dmos62 7y ago
Mind bending. Hope it's a one-off case.
arethuza 7y ago
It was reported this morning that the Dyson order is in addition to sourcing them from existing suppliers.
gridlockd 7y ago
> There are plenty of medical equipment manufacturers in the UK who've made these exact products before, or very similar products, and who know the rules and regulations well. They've offered to help, but not heard anything back from the government. You're extrapolating a lot here. That's one guy showing up on TV, presumably running a small medical equipment company, who got into contact with someone at the DTI, who told him to fill out a form on a website. He did, but there was no followup. The end. Note that he also says he can't actually ramp up production that quickly, that he relies on subcontractors that aren't available, and so on. I don't see what the government can actually do for him, besides ordering something that he can't produce at bigger capacity anyway. A company like Dyson could presumably produce the whole thing in-house. A zoo of interdependent companies may be more efficient at small scales, but at large scales, logistics becomes the bottleneck.

by DanBC 7y ago

altacc 7y ago

Dyson and others efforts are additional to the two ventilator manufacturers in the UK, who have already received orders for about as much as they can produce. From the article: "...the government thinks it can procure a further 8,000 from existing domestic and international suppliers"

DanBC 7y ago
Yes, but those 8000 orders are piecemeal from any supplier that has any kind of stock, a few hundred here, a few dozen there. There's not a coordinated drive to support those manfs to increase their production. As you say, the Dyson effort was a separate programme. Existing medical equipment manufacturers -companies that make medical equipment but not necessarily these ventilators at the moment- tried to apply to that separate scheme and they were ignored. The money went to Dyson or car makers. It's probably better to spend the money on companies that already make medical products and help them increase their capacity than it is to spend it on car makers and Dyson who'll need to re-tool their factories and re-train their staff.

dmos62 7y ago

Mind bending. Hope it's a one-off case.

arethuza 7y ago

It was reported this morning that the Dyson order is in addition to sourcing them from existing suppliers.

gridlockd 7y ago

> There are plenty of medical equipment manufacturers in the UK who've made these exact products before, or very similar products, and who know the rules and regulations well. They've offered to help, but not heard anything back from the government. You're extrapolating a lot here. That's one guy showing up on TV, presumably running a small medical equipment company, who got into contact with someone at the DTI, who told him to fill out a form on a website. He did, but there was no followup. The end. Note that he also says he can't actually ramp up production that quickly, that he relies on subcontractors that aren't available, and so on. I don't see what the government can actually do for him, besides ordering something that he can't produce at bigger capacity anyway. A company like Dyson could presumably produce the whole thing in-house. A zoo of interdependent companies may be more efficient at small scales, but at large scales, logistics becomes the bottleneck.