Seat has turned 100% in the fight against the coronavirus. The Spanish firm has put vehicle production aside to focus on a single objective: to manufacture respirators for the health system. Other companies in the automotive sector have been involved with different initiatives, from the manufacture of face masks to the donation of protective material, passing through the transfer of the fleet. Seat has gone one step further, transforming an entire sub-chassis assembly line for the production of assisted respirators.
The process has been long and has involved a tremendous effort for Seat’s engineers and technicians. Over the past week, a total of 150 workers have developed 13 different prototypes to get the final device. At the moment, one of the units is undergoing a long-term test to complete the homologation process . In an exceptional moment, the perseverance and know-how of the brand’s technicians have reached the next level of responsibility. Nicolás Mora, from the Seat Martorell Production area, comments: “The motivation of all the people who participate in this project is to help in the way we know, which is to mass-produce equipment, this time to save lives .” A work against the clock with a single reward, the most important of all: reducing the number of victims of COVID-19.
A new production line
Seat did not wait a minute to launch different initiatives against this virus. Much of the workforce was sent home due to reduced production and quarantine compliance , but the rest did not stop working. The objective of these lines of development is to produce, as soon as possible, the materials demanded by hospitals and share the information with those industries that can do the same. One of the engineering teams started the OxyGEN project , which required 13 prototypes to reach the final model.
The engineered respirator features Seat printed gears, gearbox shafts, and a motor adapted from a windshield wiper . Each of these respirators incorporates more than 80 electronic and mechanical components, which must be assembled on a line at the Martorell plant. A transformation process that has not been sewing and singing. As Sergio Arreciado, from the Seat Process Engineering area, explains: “Modifying an assembly line that manufactures a sub-chassis, a car part, and being able to transform it and manufacture respirators has been an arduous job in which many have been involved. areas of the company and we have done it in the record time of a week ”.
Quality and team work
Seat confirms that a respirator is currently complying with the long-term test required by its approval process . The urgency is such that while this test is being carried out, the production line is still running with a final ultraviolet light sterilization process. The firm recognizes his work and the solidarity that has moved his team, investing more than hours of sleep with a single goal in mind. Frances Sabaté, from Seat’s R&D team, comments: “Just knowing that we have tried to help save a life, all this work will have been worth it ”.
We all overcome this crisis, that is clear. For this reason, Seat does not hesitate to recognize that the development of these respirators has had many other companies. Remember especially the Spanish Agency for Medicines and Health Products . Protofy.XYZ has been part of the design of the respirator and other companies involved have been: CMCiB, Universitat de Barcelona, Recam Laser, Doga Motors, Luz Negra, Ficosa, Bosch, IDNEO, Secartys and LCOE .
