Rapid PPE Development: Saving Lives with Innovation

Life Saving Innovation at Speed

Health care innovation often involves long timelines and large budgets. At Mouse, we believe in placing the user and their needs at the heart of every solution. Recognising the urgent need for effective and readily available PPE during the COVID-19 pandemic, we understood the necessity for rapid innovation.

We set out to develop and produce a UK-made, mass-produced Face Visor that met the all the necessary safety standards to gain CE certification, within 6 months.  The result was a fully certified face visor capable of being mass produced (100,000 units/week) and had a CO2e footprint that was only 20% the size of most competitive products.

An Unexpected Turn of Events

Rewind back to early 2020, and things were looking challenging!  I originally started a design agency business in 2013 and had worked at growing it year on year. But for the first time since starting projects were put on hold, contracts were getting cancelled, and the future of the business was not looking great.  I wasn’t alone it was a story that was unfolding the world over.

The Art of Pivoting: A Designer’s Response

During Covid, the term “pivoting” became common business language. As a designer, pivoting is simply a natural part of the process. We are constantly challenging assumptions, exploring new possibilities, all to help find innovative solutions to complex problems.

So….. it was time to ‘Pivot’, the first question was how can I help with what is happening because of Covid.  I didn’t have to look far as my Wife is a GP and she couldn’t get hold of the PPE she needed to work safely.  This was the catalysis for the PPECO Face Visor.  After assessing types of PPE and the power of my business network, creating a face visor was quickly identified at a great fit.

Innovate UK Funding and Project Objectives

In April 2020, we were awarded a significant grant from Innovate UK through their “Business Led Innovation in Response to Global Disruption” competition.

This funding enabled a six-month project to develop, produce, and CE certify an “UK Produced, Environmentally Focused, Innovative Face Visor.” The ambitious goal of achieving production and certification by November 2020 was successfully met, leading to a further grant extension for continued development of the new business venture.

Key Partnerships in FaceVisor Development

Partnership were critical in achieving the successful development of the ppeco FaceVisor is such a short time frame. The project was a collaborative effort, leveraging the expertise of several key partners:

• Smurfit Kappa and Carton Edge: Manufacturing Excellence
  • Building upon a strong pre-existing relationship with Smurfit Kappa, a global leader in cardboard packaging, Taylor Garfit Ltd secured their involvement in the manufacturing process. Carton Edge, a specialist in film and foil products, joined the partnership to contribute their expertise in acetate production and application.
  • This collaboration offers several key advantages:
    • UK-based production, efficient manufacturing processes, high-volume capacity, access to sustainable materials (FSC Certified) and a sustainable manufacturing process.
  • The use of corrugated board and acetate for visor production represents a novel approach, opening up new manufacturing routes for PPE in the UK.
  • Smurfit Kappa’s commitment to sustainable practices aligns with the project’s environmental goals, offering the potential for closed-loop recycling of the product, both the corrugated frame and the acetate sheet can be processed through existing recycling routes
• National Physics Laboratory (NPL): Product Development and Testing
  • NPL, a leading national laboratory, provided invaluable support throughout the development process. Their contributions including efficacy testing on digital models, analysis of CE standards, suggested areas of improvement for effective design and pre testing of the CE certification requirements.
  • NPL’s involvement ensured the highest standards of quality, safety, and effectiveness for the ppeco FaceVisor.
• University of Central Lancashire (UCLan): User Research and Evaluation
  • The University of Central Lancashire’s Allied Health Research Unit played a crucial role in gathering user feedback and evaluating the product’s performance. Including; user research surveys, comparative product analysis and design refinements based on user feedback.
  • This valuable input ensured that the ppeco FaceVisor meets the specific needs and preferences of end-users.
• University of Lancaster: Life-Cycle Analysis
  • The University of Lancaster’s Centre for Global Eco-Innovation conducted a comprehensive life-cycle analysis to:
    • Quantify the environmental impact, compare with competitive products, identify areas for improvement.
  • This analysis provide crucial insights into the environmental sustainability of the ppeco FaceVisor and the result was that the CO2e footprint was 86% less than that of a plastic visor sourced from the Far East

Collaboration with the NHS and User Feedback

Throughout the development process, the project has engaged with medical professionals within the NHS to gather valuable user feedback.

• These included; Swansea Bay University Health Board, GP’s in Wirral Primary Care Network and UCLAN Teaching Hospital

The PPECO Face Visor was a fantastic project to have worked on, it has driven Mouse into existence and helped define a philosophy of nothing is impossible if you set your mind to it.  We were lucky to get a lot of positive coverage of the project but probably the most memorable was to be invaded to present the PPECO Face Visor to the ‘Royal Society’ a fellowship of the world most eminent scientists during one of their conferences (albeit online as everything was back then!)

We’d love to hear from you if you are interested in finding out more about our medical product design work or if you would like to know how we could help you sustainably innovate your next lifesaving product.