Martin McVicar, CEO and co-founder of specialist materials handling manufacturer Combilift has been named as a winner in this year’s Public Sector Magazine Excellence in Business Awards. The nomination to the shortlist was in recognition of his achievements in 2020 to address the requirements of medical professionals regarding the lack or shortage of ventilators during the Covid-19 emergency.
Martin got together a team of mechatronic and software engineers in a non-profit endeavour to develop the Combi-Ventilate. This is an attachment which can be added to any brand of ventilator which costs a fraction of a standard ventilator and can be installed very easily into an ICU unit environment. The project was praised at the time as being an example of excellent collaboration between the engineering and manufacturing industry and the Health Service Executive (HSE), and after just five weeks development a unit was undergoing laboratory tests.
Each year Public Sector Magazine invites key public sector companies to nominate organisations and individuals who demonstrate excellence in their field, and nominees are judged by a panel of experts drawn from previous award winners and representatives from diverse sectors.
“This is an award for the team who pulled out all the stops so quickly last year to come to the aid of the medical teams, and I’d like to thank Public Sector Magazine and all those who voted for us,” said Martin McVicar. “The medical device sector is not our core business but making equipment which keeps people safe has always been our focus and this project, driven by our desire to help during these difficult times, mirrors what our research and development department has done for the last 23 years.”
