Apple to Aid COPAN Diagnostics in Production of COVID-19 Testing Kits

Apple Newsroom:

Apple today announced it is awarding $10 million from its Advanced Manufacturing Fund to COPAN Diagnostics, a market leader in sample collection kits that play a critical role in COVID-19 testing. This funding will allow COPAN Diagnostics to rapidly accelerate their supply of sample collection kits for hospitals across the United States, expanding production from several thousand today to more than one million kits per week by early July. As part of this effort, Apple will support COPAN Diagnostics’ expansion to a new, larger facility in Southern California, with advanced equipment that Apple is helping design. […]

Norman Sharples, CEO of COPAN Diagnostics:

“Collection and transport kits are a critical component in the fight against COVID-19. At COPAN, we’re excited and grateful for this partnership with Apple as our strong beliefs of innovation, quality, and excellence in manufacturing and design are perfectly aligned. Apple’s operational expertise will help us increase delivery of important pre-analytical tools for medical professionals across the country at this critical time.”

The headlines — including Apple’s own — are about the $10 million. But anyone can give $10 million. What intrigues me here and might be unique to Apple is the operational assistance — help designing machines, help with production, help with procurement. Apple’s operational excellence is indisputably the best in the consumer electronics industry. If they can apply even a fraction of that expertise to a company like COPAN, it could make a significant difference in U.S. testing capacity.

★ Thursday, 7 May 2020