Abstract
The eruption of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) (corona virus disease, COVID-19) in Wuhan, China, and its global spread has led to an exponentially growing number of infected patients, currently exceeding over 6.6 million and over 390,000 deaths as of the 5th of June 2020. In this pandemic situation, health systems have been put under stress, and the demand for personal protective equipment (PPE) exceeded the delivery capabilities of suppliers. To address this issue, 3D printing was identified as a possible solution to quickly produce PPE items such as face shields, mask straps, masks, valves, and ear savers. Around the world, companies, universities, research institutions, and private individuals/hobbyists stepped into the void, using their 3D printers to support hospitals, doctors, nursing homes, and even refugee camps by providing them with PPE. In Germany, the makervsvirus movement took up the challenge and connected thousands of end users, makers, companies, and logistic providers for the production and supply of face shields, protective masks, and ear savers. The Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) also joined the makervsvirus movement and used its facilities to print headbands for face shield assemblies and ear savers. Within this paper, the challenges and lessons learned from the quick ramp up of a research laboratory to a production site for medium-sized batches of PPE, the limitations in material supply, selection criteria for suitable models, quality measures, and future prospects are reported and conclusions drawn.
Highlights
The industry for additive manufacturing (AM)/3D printing has grown rapidly in recent years, with increasing numbers of companies adopting various AM technologies for their production and with research in AM growing in output every year
Some designs required a large amount of post-production assembly of additional parts, which in itself undermines the use of 3D printing for its ability to create complex parts without the need for additional manufacturing steps
A wide variety of Computer-aided design (CAD) designs is available at the moment, ranging from simple, easy, and fast to print types to very intricate ones with a quick release feature (Figure 4 a–c). As most of these protective equipment (PPE) designs are being published by private persons on various 3D printing community websites such as thingiverse [21] or myminifactory [22], they did not undergo any of the official functional testing, approval, or certification processes usually required for PPE products and even more importantly for medical devices
Summary
The industry for additive manufacturing (AM)/3D printing has grown rapidly in recent years, with increasing numbers of companies adopting various AM technologies for their production and with research in AM growing in output every year. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimated that in order to meet the global demand for the current crisis, industries need to increase their current production levels by 40% [2] Covering this increased demand is hindered by many factors, with most personnel either working from home or on leave, thereby creating a large gap between the demand and the supply due to the high ramp-up time of traditional manufacturing techniques. Anyone with access to maker equipment such as 3D printers, either privately or as part of an organization, was able to register as a potential maker and get involved in the movement to immediately start producing PPE as per the requirements given by the hub, see Figure 1 All those in need of personal protection equipment could approach the makervsvirus community/hubs (as indicated by a blue symbol in the map below) by signing up on the website to place their request for equipment such as face shields or ear savers. Experiences of the last 8 weeks of being part of the makersvsvirus movement, concluding with an approach to extrapolate the lessons learned during this time period to provide a vision for the future of decentralized production and its challenges as envisioned by Industry 4.0 principles
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