Tividale-based manufacturer Ramfoam has successfully secured a contract with the Department of Health and Social Care to produce face visors for the NHS, with help from the Made in the Midlands Group. The manufacturer is now producing three million visors per week which have created and safeguarded in excess of 1000 jobs at their facility and throughout the supply chain.
Operating since 1995, Ramfoam‘ s expertise lies in the manufacture, conversion and supply of foam, with clients in the UK and beyond. At the beginning of the pandemic, Ramfoam was inundated with requests from other manufacturers for foam strips for the production of traditional face visors.
However, after researching their usage with frontline healthcare workers, Ramfoam decided that it made sense to create a superior product that could be produced easily in high volume using the least number of components. As a result, the firm came up with a unique, premium lightweight, reusable and comfortable seal-fit headband to which a film visor could be easily attached. Most importantly, unlike other face visors, the closed-cell foam used in the Ramfoam Care+ face visor is highly bacterially resistant and hypoallergenic. Furthermore, it can be easily cleaned, is reusable and recyclable, whilst the innovative design also has harness points for face masks – for those requiring utmost protection.
Starting the project back in April, Ramfoam was successfully able to get the product EN166 and CE marked within weeks.
Tim Mulqueen, Director of Ramfoam said:
“Our primary motivator throughout this whole project has been to protect the NHS and help save lives, and we’re proud to have been able to create a large number of new roles in the West Midlands as part of that goal. “For our staff, nothing is more motivating than knowing they are helping to support frontline healthcare workers and their families every day.”
Charles Addison, Deputy CEO of The Made in the Midlands Group, supported Ramfoam with their contacts providing information and assistance.
Tim added:
“We are really grateful to The Made in the Midlands Group for their assistance on this project and the help is given. And we highly recommend all Midlands businesses join the group to make Great British manufacturing great again! The Made in the Midlands Group have adapted their offerings to be virtual in order to keep on providing useful networking events and keep Midlands business in touch.
Tim concluded that it was also the firm’s dedicated passion and drive that made the project happen. He also mentioned that the project proves that the UK is capable of high volume manufacturing and encourages other manufacturers to onshore their manufacturing processes in the UK.