Vauxhall employees return from ventilator shifts
Vauxhall employees have returned to their normal jobs after completing a 16-week assignment at Smiths Medical, as part of a consortium which delivered 13,437 ventilators for the NHS.
A handpicked team of 15 workers from Vauxhall’s Kimpton Road Plant have spent the last four months at the Luton site of Smiths Medical, a division of Smiths Group plc.
Following a week of training, the team helped to assemble 20 to 30 life-saving ventilator units a week. Towards the end of the assignment, production rose to hundreds of ventilators a week – surpassing all expectations. Vauxhall’s staff conducted in-line quality tests as the ventilators were produced, ensuring they met the high standards required by the NHS.
Stephen Norman, managing director, Vauxhall Motors, said: “I’m immensely proud and not at all surprised that Vauxhall workers have volunteered and have been able to make such a valuable contribution during these difficult times.
“Our plant employees are used to working on lines where only consistent high quality is not just essential but primordial, and they have done a fantastic job over the past 16 weeks being part of the team making much needed ventilators to contribute to the NHS. During the last war Vauxhall manufactured Churchill tanks in Luton and here we see our front line contribution in what is widely seen as the most serious world crisis since that time.”
