Ricardo response to COVID-19 recognised at the Adur and Worthing Business Awards 2021

At the 2021 Adur and Worthing Business awards – the annual event celebrating the achievements of businesses in this region of Sussex – held at the Pavilion Theatre in Worthing on the evening of Friday 12 November, Ricardo was recognised for its COVID-19 response.

With its headquarters at Shoreham-by-Sea in the UK, Ricardo is both a global company and a major local business in the Adur and Worthing area of the West Sussex coast. That tangible sense of belonging both to global and local communities and the positive impact that local innovation can have on global events was at the heart of Ricardo’s work that was recognised by the Adur and Worthing Business Awards judging panel which rewarded the company and Worthing-based Egalité Care with the 2021 awards for COVID-19 response.

As part of the national effort to supply Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) required by those working to combat the Covid-19 pandemic, Ricardo designed, assembled and donated 10,000 protective face shields to front line NHS and healthcare workers in just over 100 NHS hospital trusts, care homes, nursing homes, GP surgeries and hospices across the Midlands and south of England.

Pictured above: Ricardo designed, assembled and supplied PPE to frontline staff

Coming up with the concept, design, prototypes, testing and production methodology for the face shields took the team at Ricardo just three weeks, leveraging our experience in engineering-design, high value rapid response assembly, and supply chain management. In that three-week period, our team created a bespoke design for the face shields, working with local NHS doctors to test the PPE for enhanced comfort and wearability over extended periods; sourced a manufacturer in longstanding supply chain partner Stephens Plastic Mouldings, using tooling co-funded jointly with us; and worked with the industry-leading test provider SATRA to secure fast-tracked testing of its protective face shield to EN166 - crucially, testing which enabled the PPE to be NHS approved for COVID-19 emergency use.

To ensure that the face shields could reach care home and NHS staff as quickly as possible, the team repurposed some of our manufacturing facilities at our Shoreham and Midlands Technical Centres as assembly lines and logistics centres for this much-needed PPE. The Ricardo team not only designed, tooled and assembled the protective face shields, but they also delivered them around the country, too.

Teri Hawksworth, President of Ricardo Automotive and Industrial EMEA said:

“Ricardo is honoured to have been recognized with the COVID-19 response award. This award recognises the impact that great people in local communities can make to address unprecedented global challenges like climate change and COVID-19. I am very proud that the highly skilled engineers, technicians and scientists at Ricardo who live and work in the local area have been acknowledged for their work. We are also a proud member of the regional business community and hence are extremely grateful for this recognition from our peers in local industry and commerce.”

Jason March, Director, Powertrain Systems, Ricardo Performance Products said: “This award is thoroughly deserved by the Ricardo team. Back in March 2020, we could see that if we were to apply our world-class manufacturing expertise, work with our procurement teams and link up with our existing suppliers to make a significant contribution to the national effort to supply PPE to frontline NHS and healthcare workers.”

“Ricardo has a long tradition of supporting our local communities. With so many of us having family and friends working in the NHS or in care homes, it was important that our manufacturing skills could protect those who protect us. I’m sure that everyone at Ricardo would like to dedicate our award to all the incredible frontline health care workers who are continuing their exceptional work.”