HP Innovation Journal Issue 15: Summer 2020 | Page 39

66,000 FACE SHIELDS ARE PRINTED BY SMILEDIRECTCLUB IN ANTIOCH, TENNESSEE, AND DELIVERED TO FOUR LOCATIONS
4
Just a few months
ago, SmileDirectClub
(SDC) was producing
thousands of teeth
aligners daily
on its fleet of 60
HP commercial 3D
printers in Antioch,
Tennessee. But in
March the company
quickly mobilized to
address the shortage
of PPE. “We started
to see the impact
in some of our
SmileShops in
countries outside
the United States,”
says Dan Baker, the
company’s chief
supply officer. Joining
forces with HP, SDC
worked at breakneck
speed to design face
shields for frontline
healthcare workers,
while production
on its printers was
shifted to manufacture
the critical PPE.
In a matter of weeks,
SDC had designed
and printed 66,000
face shields. Here’s
how they did it:
WEEKS:
DESIGN TO
DELIVERY
How teledentistry company SmileDirectClub produced 66,000 3D-printed face
shields in less than a month. BY JENNIFER CEASER • ILLUSTRATIONS BY MATTIAS MACKLER
SICKKIDS, TORONTO
MARCH 16
In response to the
COVID-19 threat,
the leadership team
and owners of
SmileDirectClub
make the decision to
pivot from their core
business and start
printing PPE. That
week, SDC contacts
HP to consult on
which devices would
be most beneficial
in the fight against
COVID. “It became
very clear very
quickly that there
was an acceptance
of the use of face
shields to give further
protection to the
medical professional,”
says Baker.
MARCH 19
SDC downloads the
first STL 3D-printing
files for face shield
designs from the HP
website. “In terms of
selecting a model
at that early stage, it
ST. LUKE’S HEALTH SYSTEM, IDAHO
was more exploration
of what was out
there,” says Baker.
“We decided we could
then test efficacy
and develop the full
process to be able
to make them at scale
and quickly.”
That same day
SDC releases an
official announcement
stating that the
company was actively
seeking partnerships
with medical supply
companies and health
organizations that
were in need of face
shields and other
PPE supplies.
MARCH 24
SDC begins printing
face shield parts with
a portion of its 60
printers. The
headgear is printed,
while the plastic
shield itself, which
SDC did not print,
is added on at
the WestRock
subprocessor.
TENNESSEE EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT AGENCY
MARCH 30
SDC ramps up
production of the
face shields to
10,000 per day. Via
teleconferencing
discussions, HP and
SmileDirectClub’s
R & D team in
Nashville work
together to improve
and iterate the design
for maximum efficacy
and ease of use. “HP
did some really good
work to find an even
better face shield
that had a bit more
of a baseball-cap rim,
to give the person
who’s wearing it more
protection,” explains
Baker.
APRIL 1
The first face shields
produced by SDC are
shipped to SickKids,
based in Toronto.
Shipments follow to
a number of other
health organizations
and hospitals,
UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS
including St. Luke’s
Health System
in Idaho,
the Tennessee
Emergency
Management Agency,
and the University
of Illinois at Chicago.
APRIL 6
SDC begins offering
two different face
shield models,
available for free to
the dental community
so they can continue
to care for patients.
“We’ve received
requests from nearly
1,000 dentists and
orthodontists and
have provided
3,200 shields to the
dental community
to date,” says Baker.
INNOVATION/ SUMMER 2020
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HP INNOVATION JOURNAL 3 7