COVID-19: Case Study l UK Medical Ventilators

DESIGNED, SUPPLIED, DELIVERED: Coordinating production of medical ventilators for the UK

CHALLENGE When the UK stood in the face of a rapidly escalating COVID-19 outbreak across the nation, the British Government sought to prepare its National Health Service (NHS) and ensure sufficient supply of lifesaving medical equipment. But with thousands of people being admitted to hospitals daily, they feared an impending shortage of intensive care beds and machines vital for treating critically ill patients. So the UK Prime Minister called on industry to manufacture new ventilators, asking companies across the country to help meet the unprecedented demand. Responding to the call for assistance, the High Value Manufacturing Catapult CEO, Dick Elsy, pulled numerous leading aerospace, automotive and engineering businesses - including Smiths Group, Penlon, Rolls-Royce, GKN Aerospace, McLaren, DHL and Accenture – together to form the VentilatorChallengeUK consortium. This aimed to pool skills and cross-industry expertise to design and deliver medical ventilators to hospitals nationwide. The consortium submitted a range of design options, all based on existing technologies which can be assembled from parts largely available in the UK. After evaluation and testing, the consortium chose two existing ventilator designs, one by Smiths Group and one by Penlon, and sprung into action to progress production.

WHAT ACCENTURE DID Given our long-standing relationship with Rolls-Royce and close collaboration with companies involved with UK Made Smarter, Accenture was asked to provide assistance to the consortium. The aim was to support, over aggressive We manage the order placement, expediting timescales, the scaling up of a new supply chain the payment process and working with DHL and facilitate the rapid assembly of the Smiths who are providing transport and warehousing Group ventilators. services. Parts are inspected and sent onwards to be assembled into ventilators by companies Overseeing the flow of materials, including Rolls-Royce and GKN Aerospace Accenture is integrated with before finally being dispatched for use by the Rolls-Royce sourcing teams to order Department of Health. and stock the right amount of product Working with Avanade, our joint venture with at the various assembly locations. Microsoft, we deployed and now support an Enterprise Resource Planning system (ERP), Rolls-Royce identified more than 100 suppliers Dynamics365, to tightly integrate the supply who could fulfil the engineering design operations and purchasing functions, and have requirement and provide the 292 unique parts. implemented a Procure-to-Pay accounts cycle. Accenture’s role is to precisely coordinate some This automation brings greater efficiency, and 3.4million total parts from the source of supply with the supply chain control tower, enabled to final assembly build. by PowerBI and E2Open software, Accenture provides coordination, oversight and governance across the whole process from start to finish.

PEOPLE AND CULTURE Formed to address a potentially critical shortage in supply of ventilators in the UK during the COVID-19 pandemic, VentilatorChallengeUK is a direct response to a global humanitarian health crisis. By the end of March, there were thousands Thanks to our ongoing work with UK of new virus cases every day, so the NHS manufacturing companies through our needed to prepare for an overwhelming digital manufacturing practice (industry number of patient admissions to its intensive X.0) and proven expertise on procurement care wards. transformation for Rolls-Royce, Accenture is a natural fit to support the consortium, Given the urgency, Accenture dedicated bringing the capability and scalability to a team to the project, delighted to put deliver the supply chain at speed. our expertise towards resolving the UK’s ventilator supply shortage. We are working Every morning and evening, we report into as quickly as possible to order parts and Government COVID-19 meetings, to update expediate inbound shipments, ensuring all them on the supply and production progress. actions are completed swiftly and upholding Plus co-lead twice daily governance meets efficient practices including making all with the consortium members. payments in a timely manner.

VALUE DELIVERED Just two days after being brought onto the project, Accenture started issuing new purchase orders. Within ten days, Accenture and Avanade By unlocking the power of our had designed the supply chain processes, digital manufacturing and supply establishing protocols for the flow of chain expertise, and building on information, product and payments across our close working relationships more than 100 organisations globally. And with industry leaders, Accenture after five weeks, we had 100% of the parts needed to build the first batch of ventilators. has successfully enabled UK We quickly set-up a system that orchestrates ventilator manufacturing to help the movement of all 3.4million parts to the the British people. three different manufacturing locations A ventilator was built in 47 days through the where they are being assembled. With the new additional supply chain team, and the control tower, we monitor and manage the consortium is continuing to work at full speed process end-to-end, providing visibility to to deliver more units to the NHS as soon as all consortium members through new digital possible. These ventilators will help people dashboards showing the status and real-time in intensive care units at the critical stages metrics of the parts being sourced, those of Covid-19 by maintaining their respiratory in transit and those in assembly. function and helping them breathe, with the potential to save lives. Copyright © 2020 Accenture. All rights reserved.