UK power supply manufacturer steps up to support healthcare response to coronavirus crisis
14 July 2020
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As the world’s largest manufacturer of healthcare power supplies, used in critical medical & laboratory applications globally, TDK Corporation's power supply division, TDK-Lambda has stepped up to support the response to the coronavirus challenge. Many of these products are built in TDK-Lambda UK’s factory in Ilfracombe, Devon – and used in critical medical applications supporting the COVID-19 healthcare response.
With the world facing a challenging global healthcare environment, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, aging societies and shortages of medical personnel, cutting-edge medical devices and equipment can offer strong support in clinical practices – and power supplies continue to be vital to provide reliable and stable electrical energy to such devices and equipment.
According to a 2019 IHS Markit study, TDK-Lambda power supplies have the largest global market share among the sources of electrical energy used for advanced medical devices and systems, including magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scanners, x-ray systems, computed tomography (CT) scanners, positron emission tomography (PET) scanners, hematology analysers, DNA equipment, patient monitors, ultrasound scanners, surgical robotic systems, dialysis equipment and artificial heart-lung apparatuses. It has contributed to medical device manufacturers worldwide for over 40 years and TDK-Lambda UK is Britain's largest designer and manufacturer of both standard and configurable AC-DC and DC-DC power supplies.
With the COVID-19 outbreak, TDK-Lambda UK began receiving requests from existing healthcare customers during March and April to expedite and increase delivery quantities, in some cases by six to tenfold. In response, despite supply chain challenges and reduced factory capacity (due to social distancing and shielding requirements), significant quantities of product started shipping in April and May. And as lockdown measures are increasingly relaxed in the UK, the factory output is returning to normal levels.
Among the products were the 175W rated NV series for ventilators, the 300W EFE300M for virus detection, the 550W Vega modular power supply for COVID-19 swab testing and the new QM5 700W modular power supply for mobile x-ray equipment.
Increasing production rates rapidly at any time requires significant effort by purchasing, planning and manufacturing staff. To do so during an unprecedented global pandemic, the teams had to pull out every stop. This extraordinary team effort, combined with the flexibility of the UK manufacturing process and product lines, meant that TDK-Lambda UK was able to step up to the challenge and deliver.
Tim Puttick, Manufacturing Director, TDK-Lambda UK comments: “As a trusted supplier to many major healthcare and bio-diagnostic equipment manufacturers, we are proud to play our part in the efforts to combat this pandemic – and will continue to leverage the global resources of TDK-Lambda to meet this challenge. Well done and a big thank you to all involved!”
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