WHS help NHS hospitals with facemask visor tool

This month, WHS Plastics were asked by JLR to produce a tool to mould face masks for use at NHS hospitals to help with front line staff during the coronavirus pandemic.

The steel arrived in our tool room on Tuesday and the finished mould was delivered to the mould shop 1 week later. The team included Tooling Engineers who were working on the bench for the first time in five years. “It is a skill which never left us and we are proud to be working on this tool to help our front line NHS workers”.  More than 130 hours of Design & programing, 200 hours of machining and 100 hours of fitting and polishing culminated in a tool which when put into the press worked first time. Steve Morton, Manufacturing Director “this is the fastest I have seen a tool manufactured in my 17 years at WHS”.

The production cell layout has been designed especially for NHS work. Along with the usual production requirements the cell was set up to include COVID-19 precautions such as social distancing and the wearing of face-masks and gloves.  The first night of production produced over 1,500 parts with the tool performing faultlessly from the moment the team put it in the press. The visors will form an essential part of ensuring that WHS provides a safe working environment for our employees once we return to work

We are now in production with the first 84,000 face masks to be delivered to Birmingham NHS Trust hospitals.

In both our business and personal lives we achieve things, sometimes big, sometimes small, that makes us proud. However, once in a while something comes along that demands a little extra effort and from that effort, something amazing is achieved. Thank you Steve Hunt and Steve Morton and your amazing team.