Forklift vendor Combilift is stepping up to help fill the void in sufficient medical equipment for treating Covid-19 patients by developing a splitter device that turns one ventilator into multiple ventilation stations. Monaghan, Ireland-based Combilift used its resources in engineering and software design to pivot from the material handling sector and create the “Combi-Ventilate,” saying the unit will address the requirements of medical professionals in the pandemic emergency.

The Combi-Ventilate uses standard pipes and fittings for easy assembly, offers individual patient filters that prevent cross contamination, and supports dedicated computer screens for each patient’s vital information. The device is designed as an attachment which can be added to any brand of ventilator, installed easily into a hospital’s intensive care unit (ICU), and purchased for a fraction the cost of a standard ventilator, the firm said.

“Certain countries and cities are struggling to get enough ventilators and many governments and health authorities are encouraging manufacturers to come up with a solution, as did the HSE in Ireland. Instead of actually developing ventilators we analysed what is really required, as we do in our usual business models,” Martin McVicar, CEO and co-founder of Combilift, said in a release. “We have undertaken this non-profit endeavor in order to meet and facilitate the demands of the global crisis for health services around the world, namely the lack or shortage of ventilators. The medical device sector is not our core business but making critical equipment which keeps people safe and alive has always been our focus.”

And in other examples of the logistics industry dedicating its assets to the coronavirus fight:

• Supply chain service provider Seko Logistics has teamed with its medical client Alexandra to donate personal protective equipment (PPE) including protective gloves, face masks, and aprons, for frontline staff in the Covid-19 fight working in a British care home group. The two companies have joined together to fund and deliver 380,000 items of protective equipment to The Orders of St John Care Trust, a UK not-for-profit care organization that provides care for older people at 69 locations, employing 4,800 staff. Nursing homes in many countries have become hot-spots for coronavirus infection, and the UK government has confirmed coronavirus outbreaks at more than 2,000 facilities in the country so far. “St John Care Trust approached Alexandra for support with PPE and we wanted to respond to this too with both a financial donation as well as logistical expertise to ensure equipment reached the Trust’s care homes as quickly as possible,” Graham Ward, group forwarding director at Seko Logistics, said in a release.
• Plastic packaging manufacturer HLP Klearfold has repurposed a “significant portion” of its manufacturing capabilities to produce three simple, low-cost, and effective disposable face shields for coronavirus healthcare workers, saying two of them from its own designs. Made using the same raw materials, technology, and equipment used to manufacture the company’s plastic folding cartons, the single-use face shields are designed as personal protective equipment (PPE) for healthcare professionals, food service workers, and other essential services workers. “HLP Klearfold leadership in the clear plastic packaging market has made us uniquely qualified to produce face shields. Our production facility is the largest facility of its kind in the world,” HLP Klearfold President Steve Frazier said in a release. “We have the capacity to make approximately 1 million printed plastic folding cartons per day but, in light of the need for more PPE, we’ve dedicated much of our focus and manufacturing resources to producing face shields, and we are able to manufacture nearly 600,000 per day.”
• Minnesota-based electronic components distributor Digi-Key Electronics has invented technology to combat the spread of Covid-19 by disinfecting the thousands of totes that carry product through their warehouse, and is working with other distributors on the Electronic Components Industry Association (ECIA) distribution council to share that “ultraviolet sanitization tunnel” and other best practices. According to the company, nearly 8,000 plastic totes travel throughout its million-square-foot DC daily, transporting products through the picking, shipping, and receiving departments. Digi-Key’s distribution center employees interact with those totes multiple times per day, so the company created a tunnel that uses ultraviolet (UV) light to kill 99.99% of the organisms on the totes—including coronavirus.
• Freight forwarder Damco has applied its business resilience program to keep cargo moving through Covid-19 supply chain disruption. Developed over the last 18 months, Damco’s program prepares its staff for over 47 different scenarios which could disrupt the supply chain, including a pandemic. According to the company, its local and global teams are now using the program’s “Business Resilience App” to communicate in real time, while the app stores information on procedure, supports an Instant Messaging feature, and provides incident reporting, management functions, and links to relevant contacts. “In early January 2020, our Business Resilience Team responded to reports about the impact of Covid-19 from Damco offices in China and were able to give global updates and advice using the App so that we were well prepared,” Zera Zheng, head of Damco’s business resilience and security team, said in a release. “The Program means we can be agile and find flexible solutions to keep freight moving; it also means we can put established procedures in place to keep our staff safe.”

To see further coverage of the coronavirus crisis and how it's affecting the logistics industry, check out our Covid-19 landing page. And click here for our compilation of virus-focused websites and resource pages from around the supply chain sector.

#Combilift has drawn on its expertise in #engineering and software design to develop with @HSELive the Combi-Ventilate, a splitter device that turns one #ventilator into multiple #ventilation stations. Currently in test with @RCSI_Irl #COVID19 https://t.co/OpwibXzd83

— Combilift (@Combilift) April 29, 2020