Face shields 3D printed within the Stratasys coalitionERT

The final goal is to produce 350.000 face shields leveraging 3D printing flexibility to meet the high demand coming from hospitals in the front line against the covid-19 pandemic. Stratasys has thus made up a coalition of over 150 organizations, among companies and universities, to produce a 3D printed visor and a clear plastic shield that covers the entire face for health workers. The list includes such names as Boeing, Toyota Motor Company, Medtronic, Dunwoody College of Technology, the University of Central Florida, and the University of Minnesota.

Stratasys invites to join the effort any 3D printing shop that wishes to help, by printing at least 100 visors, filling an online form. In Europe, the company is serving as a hub to connect service bureaus with those requesting help, and has fielded offers and requests in most of the larger countries. The company has also posted the full face shield printing and assembly instructions for anyone to produce face shields on their own. For the US, Stratasys is using its GrabCAD Shop work order management software to assign orders from healthcare systems to each coalition member.

The company is producing thousands of visors itself in Minnesota, California, and Texas, marshalling the resources of Stratasys, Stratasys Direct Manufacturing, and MakerBot. This is in addition to continuing to meet other requests of customers and partners for 3D printers, materials, on-demand parts, and service. ‘Stay at home’ orders are not currently limiting its ability to meet these needs other than limited access to on-site support. The company is also responding to the crisis in additional ways, such as ramping up production of 3D printing materials to support its extensive partner network. It also has made free the material licenses on many of its high-end printers used to make the visors during this time.

An initiative led by anesthesiology residents of Massachusetts General Hospital called the CoVent-19 Challenge has also been launched. The challenge ask engineers and designers to help develop a new rapidly deployable ventilator and other innovative solutions to the ventilator shortage, and Stratasys will support the challenge and promote it via its GrabCAD community of more than 7 million professional designers, engineers, manufacturers and students. The company will also provide prototyping services to the challenge finalists.

For more information on how Stratasys is responding to the covid-19 pandemic and how others can help, visit www.stratasys.com/covid-19.