{"id":3000012239,"date":"2020-04-16T11:12:55","date_gmt":"2020-04-16T15:12:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/?p=3000012239"},"modified":"2020-09-03T05:53:27","modified_gmt":"2020-09-03T09:53:27","slug":"makers-fill-global-shortage-of-ppe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/community-stories\/member-spotlight\/makers-fill-global-shortage-of-ppe","title":{"rendered":"Makers rush to fill the global shortage of PPE"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The coronavirus pandemic caught healthcare systems around the world off guard and unprepared for such a quick-moving and devastating disease. Medical professionals from New York<\/a> to Italy<\/a> don\u2019t have enough personal protective equipment (PPE), such as face masks and gowns, to protect themselves from infection. Hospitals are short on ventilators, which can help save lives when patients suffering from the respiratory disease are unable to breathe on their own. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In an effort to get more critical equipment into the hands of hospitals and emergency workers who need them, large automobile manufacturers in the U.S. have pledged to alter their production lines to make ventilators<\/a>, gowns<\/a>, and face masks<\/a>\u2014but that change hasn\u2019t been instantaneous. In the meantime, grassroots movements of sewers<\/a> and other makers, as well as businesses using technology they already have, are stepping up. These groups have been able to quickly and cost-effectively manufacture PPE digitally by using 3D printers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Much like a regular printer, a 3D printer takes a design from a computer and uses those instructions to layer raw material\u2014usually plastic filaments\u2014on top of itself repeatedly to create a three-dimensional shape. A 3D printer can make almost anything, from plastic toys to prosthetic limbs. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Maker organizations such as Matterhackers<\/a> and FormLabs<\/a> are distributing 3D printing designs for items such as face masks and nasal swabs. HP, the printing company, is making face masks<\/a>, nasal swabs, hands-free door openers, and respirator parts with their 3D printers. SmileDirectClub, the teledentistry company, which boasts one of the largest networks of 3D printers in the U.S., is pivoting to make face shields and masks<\/a>. The company says its 60 industrial 3D printers can make roughly 7,500 face shields<\/a> a day. <\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n

Making lifesaving equipment for vulnerable people has always been the mission of Tel Aviv\u2013based maker community Tikkun Olam Makers<\/a> (TOM), which established its Rapid Response Makers (RRM) initiative in response to this pandemic. The organization was founded in 2014 to use 3D printing to create items like prosthetics and wheelchairs for the disabled, elderly, and poor. TOM has established maker communities comprised of roughly 4,500 volunteers, in over 20 countries, who create TOM designs in local maker spaces. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The organization was founded to connect makers who wanted to help others with the technology and resources required. \u201cWe wanted to connect these two movements,\u201d says Roy Goldenberg, community development director at TOM, of the organization’s founding. \u201cPeople willing to give their time to help those at the bottom of the pyramid, the most vulnerable, and a shift in technology that allows us to manufacture these solutions [such as prosthetics] all around the world.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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That shift in technology is the rise of the 3D printer. While 3D printing technology has existed since the 1980s, it\u2019s only in the past seven years<\/a> or so that these devices have become so user-friendly and affordable that they\u2019re practically mainstream. They cost as little as $250<\/a>, and even children can learn how to use them<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The 3D printing technology used by TOM and others allows them to produce supplies faster and at a lower cost than traditional manufacturing facilities. Factories generally manufacture items\u2014say, a plastic food container lid\u2014based on a mold, which itself costs up to thousands of dollars to make. When that item is produced hundreds of thousands of times, that high cost is spread out over time, making it cost efficient for a factory. But during a crisis, manufacturers don\u2019t have the time or resources to ramp up immediately.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

3D printers, on the other hand, rely on digital designs, many of which circulate on online libraries<\/a>, rather than molds. That plastic food container lid, for example, could be made from just $5 of raw material in a 3D printer, says Goldenberg. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, TOM, a WeWork member in Tel Aviv<\/a> and New York City<\/a>, decided to \u201ccreate our own maker army\u201d to provide medical professionals with much-needed supplies, Goldenberg says. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The central TOM team in Israel prototyped designs, delivered them to local hospitals to test, and then quickly iterated on the designs based on user feedback. The tweaked designs were uploaded to their open-source online database<\/a> and distributed to TOM\u2019s global network of makers. Right now the most popular design being printed by TOM\u2019s global maker network is a face shield: a plastic covering attached to a visor that protects a wearer\u2019s entire face. As of mid-April, the organization has donated more than 15,000 face shields around the world. That includes nearly 3,000 in Israel, over 4,000 in Mexico, and 5,000 in Serbia. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Makers say that the most difficult part of the grassroots movement to make PPE is the operations and logistics<\/a> of getting material to makers and products to hospitals. And much like a regular printer, it\u2019s not the 3D printer that\u2019s costly, but the raw materials, or plastic filaments, that feed into it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cWe are short of 40,000 face shields in Israel,\u201d says Goldenberg of TOM. \u201cOur bottleneck is mostly around finding resources to get raw materials. It\u2019s not because we don\u2019t have enough 3D printers, but because we don\u2019t have enough raw materials.\u201d The organization is accepting donations<\/a> that will go toward procuring these materials for their maker communities around the world. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Goldenberg emphasizes that these efforts are not meant to replace factories, but to step in swiftly when factories are unable to do so. \u201cIt takes time and effort for factories to move. In the meantime, the situation needs a quick response,\u201d he says. \u201cWe\u2019re living in a unique time. That requires unique behavior, engagement, and support from around the world.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n