Behind Pedro Sánchez's visit this past Friday to a respirator factory is the story of a leading company specialized in defense material, which has radically changed its tasks in recent days to dedicate itself to the fight against the coronavirus. Its engineers and other workers have gone from making modern weapons systems and advanced engineering devices to what Covid-19 critically ill patients now need most . Escribano Mechanical & Enginering has set up its Alcalá de Henares factory to produce pulmonary ventilators to achieve 5,000 within a period of just over a month.

Javier Escribano, the president of this company, explains to El Mundo that this change "has been a direct commission from the Secretary of State for Industry. They called us and explained that there was another Madrid company specialized in manufacturing approved respirators, which already had the knowledge and the technique to manufacture them, but it did not have capacity for the current demand. So we have reached an agreement with them to put all our production capacity in the components of the respirators and to supply as soon as possible the units they need to the hospitals "

The other company, called Hersill, manufactures a mechanical fan called Vitae 40, which is one of those approved by the Ministry of Health. "It is a very advanced device that is not simply dedicated to pumping oxygen with a valve, but rather exerts breathing for the patient at the request of his body, according to what he needs," Escribano adds.

However, Hersill's production was very low, mainly because with the pre-pandemic demand they might sell between five and 10 units a month. Now 5,000 are urgently needed.

"We have more capacity, so we have stopped all the production we had from our business, we have joined them and we are already manufacturing 150 respirators a day. We would have it easier if it were not because some components have to come from abroad and are very difficult to obtain, especially now that the market demands these devices worldwide, "continues the president of this Madrid company.

Although this Friday they have already been able to deliver the first 100 respirators, they have already had to go through several odyssey: "The other day we had to urgently send a plane to Switzerland to collect some electronic components that the respirators need. They also had to help us to send a person to Portugal to pick up some pieces in an area that is now closed by the coronavirus, "Escribano explains.

Except for the few specific components that come from outside, 80% of the parts of these respirators are being manufactured by Escribano M&E.

Like many of the national companies dedicated to Defense, Escribano is better known abroad than in Spain. So, as soon as they found out in other countries that they were manufacturing respirators, they have had orders. However, they have said no: "Orders are coming from outside, but at the moment all the devices we manufacture must be for Spain, which is where we need them," Escribano concludes.

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  • Coronavirus
  • Covid 19
  • Madrid
  • Pedro Sánchez
  • Respiratory diseases

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