Chasing down the virus 26 August 2020

At the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, the British government sought the help of the UK's Formula 1 teams to design and manufacture 10,000 artificial ventilators. Ceratizit UK & Ireland is supporting McLaren Racing with cutting tools for the production of artificial ventilators.

The British government is seeking to procure as many artificial ventilators as possible for the NHS. As part of the supply chain, Ceratizit is supporting these efforts to the best of its abilities and has put together a special package for manufacturers of ventilators. High performance drills were provided to produce precision holes with a diameter of up to 16xD in both aluminium and steel.

"McLaren Racing is one of several customers with whom we have worked on the ventilators initiative. We can help by ensuring that it has the tools and knowledge needed on the production line. While it was only drilling tools that were needed at the start, we have been able to make a series of recommendations on tools to help improve the production of these important parts,” explains Michael May, industry solutions engineer from Ceratizit. These include Ceratizit’s AluLine end mills, PCR-AL plunge milling cutters, CCR-AL CircularLine end mills and the WTX-AL and WTX-Ti drills.

Tony Pennington, managing director of Ceratizit UK & Ireland adds: “We are delighted that so many companies have taken advantage of our support package for the production of ventilators. With a huge discount on the tools and free technical support, we have been able to help these manufacturers and make our own small contribution to overcoming the current challenges as best as possible.”