HP Innovation Journal Issue 15: Summer 2020 | Page 40

Acceleration of Change Manufacturing FACE MASK STRAP WHAT: Mask strap that allows the mask to be adjusted around the back of the head rather than loop behind the ears WHY: Helps relieve ear pain for hospital staff who need to wear masks for long periods of time WHERE: Worldwide university health systems in Illinois and California. Dan Baker, SmileDirectClub’s global supply chain officer, said the crisis has tested his team beyond anything they had ever done before. “Once it became clear 3D printing could have a huge impact on PPE shortages, we started working around the clock,” Baker says. “I’ve never worked so hard in my life, and I’ve never seen so many people come together to solve a problem and make a difference.” The flexibility of 3D printing has enabled HP and many other of its digital manufacturing partners to quickly pivot production to PPE, including more than 540,000 face shields for the government of Canada, more than 45,000 PAPR hoods by insole manufacturer Superfeet, and 100,000 face shields with Avid Product Development, among many others. “3D printing is proving itself as a just-in-time technology to get us the supplies we need,” Heyborne says. “I really do view it as a game changer now.” Manufacturing leaders mobilize to fight COVID-19 It is clearer than ever that the path toward a post-pandemic future must be collaborative, and countries, governments, businesses, and communities must leverage new technologies to prepare for an increasingly volatile environment. Toward that end, the World Economic Forum (WEF) organized the 3D Printing COVID-19 Rapid Response Initiative, made up of 14 major additive manufacturing players. Together, these leading industrial 3D-printing companies are bringing their expertise and equipment and mobilizing resources to help support the critical needs of frontline workers battling the novel coronavirus pandemic. “With the scale of the COVID crisis, we were suddenly facing all-new challenges that need new solutions in a time frame that was unprecedented,” Francisco Betti, the WEF’s head of advanced manufacturing and production and coordinator of the COVID-19 initiative, says. “We’re seeing more and more collaboration to address the pandemic in what is usually a very competitive advanced manufacturing industry.” The WEF 3D Printing COVID-19 Rapid Response Initiative has collectively shipped millions of 3D-printed parts, and more innovations are in the pipeline such as publishing PPE and device component 3D-design files that communities in need can access and use to print their own, proof of the initiative’s ability to unite and mobilize resources. “I don’t see how one company could have done it all alone,” says Betti. This community-driven approach is spearheading industry-wide transformation. The 3D printing industry’s ability to unite and mobilize resources showed that going forward they will be able to forge new ecosystems in order to support their ambitions, as well as help people in need around the world. PHOTOGRAPH BY