Rapid Response Innovation

We all tried to forget COVID, the lockdowns, and the panic buying. But remember the PPE shortage? Frontline staff were dying due to lack of PPE. JNDC couldn’t just watch; we had to act. Designing, prototyping, testing, certifying, and manufacturing a medical product usually takes years. We aimed to do it in weeks during lockdown, even with our manufacturing contacts closed.

Dean, founder of JNDC, and Ben, director of Interactual, outlined the resources needed. We assembled an army of people to make it happen. Our prototype was tested by NHS staff, catching the attention of the MoD. Their first order was for 100,000 units based on our prototype and promise to deliver.

Our mission was to supply PPE without stressing the supply chain. We turned to a food packaging company for a key component and a trusted supplier of injection-moulded parts. They made the tooling and started production within weeks. We set up a quality management system, passed compliance, and got the product certified quickly.

120,000 items of PPE were delivered to the NHS during the critical shortage. We maintained the supply long enough for major multinationals to gear up and start producing at a much larger scale. Our team and all businesses involved ran the project at cost. No profit was made, and our team was paid the London minimum living wage. Our goal was to help during the darkest days of COVID-19.