Update: Yorkville Sound Partners on Open-Source Ventilator Design Project

UPDATE: Ontario Premier Doug Ford and Member of Provincial Parliament Peter Bethlenfalvy recently visited Yorkville Sound at their 150,000 square foot manufacturing plant in Pickering, Ontario. The visit was a direct result of the initiative Yorkville Sound has undertaken to product ventilators during the COVID-19 pandemic, partnering with StarFish Medical. Greeted by Yorkville CEO Steve Long and instrumental engineer on the project Peter Till, the officials were granted a tour of the facility while testing out manufacturing stations along the way.

“Within the first 10 minutes, we connected on a musical level,” says Long, “I learned that the Premier is a drummer and our MPP is a guitarist. Walking the tour with them, I was proud of what we accomplished and the people we work with.”

Since the projects began, Yorkville Sound has manufactured hundreds of ventilator interfaces with plans to increase production in the next two weeks.

The original article in its entirety can be found below.

The state of the art facility employs over 220 individuals and features the ability to complete acoustic testing, product development and research, the home to an expanded service department, in-house demonstration and training facilities, and extensive warehouse facilities for the company’s growing presence in the market. As an ideal location for innovation and progress, Yorkville Sound recently partnered with Toronto based Starfish Medical, a full-service medical device design company, in an open-source ventilator design project, hoping to increase the availability of ventilators in Canada to fight the COVID-19 pandemic.

Yorkville Sound has been a manufacturer of pro audio systems and accessories since 1963, when founder Peter Traynor developed the Traynor Dyna-Bass amplifier. Built specifically to “withstand the rigors of rentals and the road,” the product line continued to expand when Traynor partnered with Jack Long later that year to officially form the company. Since its beginnings, Yorkville Sound has grown to expand operations to include importation and distribution of goods under the brands of Apex, Applied Research & Technology (ART), as well as distributing lines such as Granite Percussion, Denver Guitars, Orion FX Lighting, Dynaudio PRO, Hughes & Kettner Amplifiers, Epiphone Guitars, Gibson Guitars, Mapex Drums, Los Cabos Drumsticks, Line 6, Ernie Ball Strings, Rotosound Strings, Snark Tuners, TrueTone Pedals, KRK, and Gallien-Krueger amplifiers.

The collaboration between the two companies was in response to a call from the Canadian government asking businesses and manufacturers to retool their operations to boost the production of critical health supplies during the time of COVID-19. John Walmsley, executive vice president of strategic relationships at Starfish Medical, reflected on the project commenting, “What better contributor to a Canadian emergency ventilator program than Yorkville Sound, whose manufacturing and production ingenuity established them at the top of the music and professional sound industry. Like of industrial contributors, Yorkville stepped in and got us the parts we needed, fast.” The open-source ventilator design project was inspired by ‘The Winnipeg Ventilator’ (https://thewinnipegventilator.com) a product designed for intensive care unit use and one of the easier models to bring to high volume production. To date, ten units have been completed with an additional 50 in production.

“Our design and manufacturing team is very excited to be part of the solution during this unprecedented time.” Says Steve Long, Yorkville Sound’s president. He continued, “We’re providing circuit-board design and layout, as well as the assembly of the control panel for the ventilator project. Our capable facility is quite nimble, and we can produce finished results quickly and with accuracy. We are dedicated to helping flatten the curve and provide much-needed equipment for our country’s healthcare professionals.”

For more information about Yorkville Sound, please visit yorkville.com