AsiaNet 85259

ISTANBUL, 25 August 2020/PRNewswire=KYODO JBN/--

- The mechanical ventilators produced by Defy, Arcelik's subsidiary in South

Africa, has received The President's Special Award for Pandemic Service

presented by the Royal Academy of Engineering

- The initiative extends the company's COVID-19 relief efforts and as of June,

Arcelik has completed the production of 5,000 life-saving mechanical

ventilators to meet domestic and international demand

The University of Cambridge Open Ventilator System Initiative team, supported

by Europe's leading consumer durables company Arcelik, with its subsidiaries

Beko in the UK and Defy in South Africa, has received The President's Special

Award for Pandemic Service. The award was presented by the Royal Academy of

Engineering as a result of their efforts in manufacturing affordable

ventilators for developing countries during the pandemic.

Awards given by the Royal Academy of Engineering seek to recognise and reward

the very best engineering talent whose achievements make a huge impact on

society.

Cambridge-based experts assembled a global manufacturing team comprising of

Defy and Denel in South Africa, Prodrive and Beko in the UK and Arcelik in

Turkey to develop a high-performance ventilator for manufacture in South

Africa. The ventilator became the first intensive care ventilator to be

manufactured in the continent.

The initiative brought together extensive research, design, manufacturing and

testing capabilities to enable the mass production of cost-effective mechanical

ventilators named Impilo at Defy's Jacobs factory in KwaZulu-Natal.

This project mirrors COVID-19 relief efforts undertaken by Arcelik, which, to

date, has produced 5,000 life-saving mechanical ventilators at its electronics

facility in Turkey on a not-for-profit basis, to meet both domestic and

international demand. 2,607 of these ventilators have already been sent to 18

countries including some of the hardest hit African countries such as Somalia,

Chad, Nigeria, Niger and Libya. Now, the advanced technology, manufacturing and

supply chain capabilities of Arcelik and its brands are leveraged through the

power of collaboration to help save more lives in countries in need and in

particular, Africa.

Polat ªen, CFO of Arcelik, responsible of Sub-Saharan Africa operations, says:

"We're honoured to have been involved in The Open Ventilator System Initiative

alongside many talented academics, experts and engineers. It's a source of

pride to be recognized with the Royal Engineering Academy Award, considering

the potential impact of this initiative on hardly challenged developing

countries. Our team has played a vital part in fighting coronavirus and the

project should be held up as a model example of cross-industry collaboration.

At Arcelik we want to be part of the solution; working collectively with

businesses and governments to fight COVID-19 globally."

About Arcelik

With over 30,000 employees throughout the world, 12 brands (Arcelik, Beko,

Grundig, Blomberg, ElektraBregenz, Arctic, Leisure, Flavel, Defy, Altus,

Dawlance, Voltas Beko), sales and marketing offices in 34 countries, and 23

production facilities in 9 countries, Arcelik offers products and services in

more than 140 countries. As Europe's second largest white goods company

according to market share ranking based on quantity, Arcelik reached a

consolidated turnover of 5 billion Euros in 2019. With almost 70% of its

profits coming from the international markets, Arcelik is the R&D leader in

Turkey – holding more than 3,000 international patent applications to date with

the efforts of 1,600 researchers in 15 R&D and Design Centers in Turkey and R&D

Offices across five countries.

www.arcelikglobal.com

About Impilo:

Impilo is a full-function ventilator and can therefore be used whether a

patient is sedated in an invasive mode, or requires assisted ventilation

triggered by their own breathing while awake in non-invasive settings, and also

with patient-triggered conditions.

Prototype versions of Impilo were developed under the specifications of the UK

Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) and the World Health

Organisation's requirements for ventilators. Pre-production versions of the

ventilator have been manufactured in the United Kingdom and are locally

manufactured by Defy and Denel Land Systems. The production version is being

fast-tracked by Defy Appliances and Denel Land System to ensure it is ready to

be delivered in South Africa.

Photo:

https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1243290/Arcelik_Ventilator_Guney_Afrika.jpg

Photo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1243291/Arcelik_Impilo_Ventilator.jpg

Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/839270/Arcelik_Logo.jpg

SOURCE: Arcelik