Irish Forklift Company Joins Coronavirus Fight With Ventilator Experiment

(Bloomberg) -- Sturdy forklifts and complex medical devices might seem a world apart. But when Martin McVicar entered self-isolation last month following a business trip to the U.S., he found a way to make the two work together.

With time on his hands, McVicar, 48, turned his thoughts to how his company, Combilift, could help in the battle against Covid-19. Visiting local hospitals close to the Irish border, it struck him that the software and expertise used to power the 6,000 forklift trucks the firm produces each year could also effectively split ventilators, allowing one device to support multiple patients.

Fast forward five weeks, and the Combilift splitter is in testing at a north Dublin hospital, with a debut estimated for May. The company offered to help Irish health authorities as concern mounted that there wouldn’t be enough ventilators globally for patients fighting the virus, according to Doctor Michael Power, of Ireland’s Health Service Executive.

Should ventilators run out, it “would be a terrible ethical dilemma, in that you might have two patients and only one ventilator available,” Power said. “This attachment removes that dilemma.”

The idea of splitting isn’t novel -- but the challenge is to control the flow of air and oxygen to each patient, a problem that McVicar says his company can help solve by utilizing some of the mechanical and electronic technology and knowledged used to design its forklifts.

“We’d all like to think this would be over in a year and we’d have too many ventilators,” he said. “But nobody knows.”

Poster Child

The incentive to create the Combi-Ventilator was not to make a profit, McVicar said. But ultimately the project may help propel the company into the medical devices arena -- an example of how the pandemic is pushing companies to think differently about their future.

For the past two years, Combilift has been a poster child for concerns around how the U.K.’s decision to exit the European Union might impact the Irish economy. Based in Monaghan, close to the border with Northern Ireland, some of its 600 staff live across the frontier, traveling to the south to work. It also imports raw materials from the U.K. and sells a share of its finished products there.

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In January, Prime Minister Leo Varadkar even launched his re-election campaign at the company’s headquarters, as he sought to highlight his achievement in keeping the frontier checkpoint free and trade flowing despite Brexit.

For Combilift, the coronavirus had the impact that had been feared from Brexit. McVicar largely suspended production in late March, and it’s now running at about 15% of capacity. But that gave the firm time to focus on ventilator splitting, with around 18 of its software and electronics experts working on the technology.

Flow Control

McVicar says Covid-19 patients initially tend to need low volumes of air and oxygen, then later need more, so control of the flow is crucial.

“This device looks to be safe and reliable in that it delivers the right amount of air to different patients from the same ventilator in a reliable way,” Power said. He stressed that there is no shortage of ventilators currently in Ireland, but there may be a need in developing countries whatever about the possibility of a second wave of the virus hitting Ireland.

While McVicar is adamant profit is not the driver of the project, he can see a commercial future in the product. The splitter can be produced for around 25% of the cost of a ventilator, which runs between $20,000 and $30,000, he said.

Classed as an essential service, Combilift plans to return to full production next week. With social distancing and other safeguards in place, the firm will produce about 100 forklifts a week, down from 140 when running at full tilt. In the medium term, the slowdown may guide the company toward more commercial medical devices, McVicar added.

“We can see ourselves staying in medical devices on the basis this creates some avenue for success,” McVicar said.

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