West Yorkshire-based ambulance builder, Venari Group, has become the first fully self-sufficient manufacturer of its kind in the UK, having brought all aspects of its production process in-house. It follows the commissioning of a new £800,000 component manufacturing centre - and will create 10 additional production roles at its Brighouse headquarters.
Every internal aspect of the firm’s ambulances, including the ambulances’ lockers and componentry, will now be manufactured in-house from raw material.
The strategic move will allow Venari Group to wholeheartedly increase quality, efficiency and safety on their vehicle range utilised by the NHS on the front line, whilst increasing capacity and decreasing lead times on large quantities.
Following a hugely demanding 2020 for the UK’s NHS ambulance trusts, Venari Group has driven continuous improvement in a bid to support its customers to a higher standard than ever before.
O&H vehicle technology technical director, Wes Linton, commented on the commissioning of the new department: “Now that O&H sits proudly within Venari Group, we have the capability and an obligation to drive unrivalled quality throughout our entire production process. UK ambulance manufacturing has essentially stood still for decades so it is our job to stride forward to the benefit of our world-class NHS ambulance trusts.
“When assessing our performance in 2020, we asked ourselves how we could drive improvement into 2021 which ultimately led to the creation of a highly skilled and technologically exceptional department, dedicated to the construction of what is arguably the most important aspect of any ambulance build.
“To reach the world-class industry standard which we aspire to achieve every day, we must drive quality from the front, in-house. Now, we are in control of our own destiny and with the most passionate team in the industry, that is only a great thing for our NHS ambulance trust customers.”
