ATS Automation addresses COVID-19 medical equipment shortages

Automation supplier ATS Automation Tooling Systems Inc. has highlighted some of the ways in which its technologies are helping to expedite the production of medical equipment to address the COVID-19 healthcare crisis.

“Around the world, organizations needing to overcome capacity constraints and supply chain shortages are turning to ATS to scale up production of critical medical devices and quickly pivot manufacturing output,” said Andrew Hider, CEO. “We’re enabling customers to manufacture important products such as ventilators and respirators, that are desperately needed to treat patients, protect healthcare workers and contain the coronavirus pandemic. We are proud to play our part and ready to do more.”

Filtering Facepiece Respirators (FFR). ATS is working with a large automaker in the United States to reconfigure its manufacturing facility, and has delivered equipment to enable the wide scale production of FFR masks. Launch of the project to delivery of equipment was completed in 17 days.

Ventilator Components. The ATS Life Sciences team is working with O-Two Medical Technologies in Canada to assemble critical ventilator components at ATS’ facilities. In the U.S., the ATS team is supplying ventilator production test equipment to two key ventilator manufacturers. The equipment enables the calibration and testing of ventilators before shipment to hospitals and medical facilities.

Automated Bio-Decontamination System. In Italy, Comecer (an ATS company that designs and manufactures high-technology systems in the fields of aseptic processing and containment for radiopharmaceutical and pharmaceutical industries) is developing an automated bio-decontamination system for hospitals based on the same technology used in Comecer’s aseptic isolators. This would allow fast decontamination of hospital rooms and equipment, and potentially enable reuse of devices such as N95 masks, which would otherwise be disposable, thereby helping to mitigate shortages.

COVID-19 Test Kits. In Germany, the ATS team is developing a solution for a manufacturer of COVID-19 test kits to help them ramp up production to meet the unprecedented demand.

Hygiene Product Filling. At IWK in Germany (an ATS company that manufactures high-speed, high-precision packaging solutions for pharmaceutical, cosmetic, food and related industries), the team has developed a rapid deployment tube-filling solution suitable for hygiene products including hand sanitizer. The machine will fill up to 70 tubes per minute. “A severe disruption in supply chains combined with an ever-growing demand for critical medical devices has left manufacturers looking for creative yet trusted solutions to meet demand,” Hider said. “And while the speed of manufacturing these medical devices is certainly important, there has never been a time where product quality has mattered more. Fortunately, ATS has the capabilities, expertise, and certifications to deliver both speed and quality.”

Headquartered in Cambridge, Ont., ATS operates 23 manufacturing sites globally, and more than 50 engineering and service sites.