As tens of thousands of UK residents fell sick at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, many hundreds were being admitted to hospitals across the country every day. The most seriously ill required ventilators to help them breathe. With only 5,900 ventilators available within the National Health Service (NHS) and a projection that nearly five times that number could be needed in the months ahead, the British government needed a rapid homegrown solution to make up for the global demand cutting off the supply from overseas.

Thousands of leading organisations from the aerospace, automotive, engineering and digital technology industries were brought together – branded as the VentilatorChallengeUK Consortium – with a shared goal to manufacture more than 10,000 ventilators in 12 weeks.

Over the course of the initiative, 15 million parts from 88 global suppliers flowed through the Dynamics 365 supply chain solution, and the Consortium produced 13,437 ventilators. That’s 20 years’ worth of typical ventilator production in just 12 weeks. With ventilators available to those who need them, the NHS now has the critical equipment needed to continue its fight against COVID-19.

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