A PRECISION engineering company which transformed its factory so it could make hospital beds for coronavirus patients has seen the first batch installed on wards.

ALM Engineering Solutions, based at Newton Aycliffe, has made 150 beds for NHS Nightingale Hospital North West.

In two weeks, Manchester Central Convention Complex, formerly G-Mex, was turned into a huge field hospital as part of the NHS response to dealing with the pandemic and began taking in its first patients on Easter Monday.

ALM finance director Steven Simpson said workers were delighted to see the first 150 beds produced at the factory delivered and installed at 7am that morning.

Mr Simpson said that ALM was, like hundreds of local SMEs, hit hard by the outbreak of Covid-19- with its core business of CNC machining, robotic end-of-arm tooling and the manufacture of cubicle hardware and lockers suffering a sudden downturn in orders.

Some staff had to be furloughed but MD and founder Tony Thompson used his manufacturing skills and knowledge design a steel bed, to help the NHS kit out its new Nightingale facilities, which are now in production.

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Speaking yesterday, as the first 150 beds were put on wards, Mr Thompson said: “The whole exercise of turning a precision machining factory into a manufacturer of hospital beds virtually overnight has been extremely challenging, but it was hugely satisfying for me and the rest of the team to see the first deliveries being made into Manchester this morning.

“As a company we are committed to helping the NHS in any way that we can in its unprecedented fight against the spread of the virus.”

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Work on a North East Nightingale hospital is ongoing at a site in Washington.