As the global pandemic continues, many industrial manufacturers are augmenting their production capacities and making donations to provide essential supplies, including personal protective equipment (PPE), sanitizers and disinfectants to fight the spread of COVID-19.
Swagelok (Solon, Ohio; www.swagelok.com) is donating up to 20,000 N95 respirator masks to local emergency medical services (EMS) and hospital systems in Ohio and Pennsylvania. The masks are being donated to the Cleveland Clinic, University Hospitals, UPMC Jameson (PA), and the EMS teams in the cities where Swagelok has facilities. Furthermore, the Swagelok Foundation is donating $100,000, earmarked as a one-time gift to local nonprofits who are directly supporting local communities affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Last month, Arkema (Colombes, France; www.arkema.com) set up an alcohol-based gel production line in the Rhône-Alpes region of France that produces 25,000 liters per week for hospitals. Now, Arkema has also mobilized to ensure the manufacturing of certain products that are key in the fight against the Covid-19 virus such as Altuglas (acrylic glass) for the protection of people in contact with the public (health facilities, authorized convenience stores, supermarkets, production sites, etc.), the molecular sieves needed to produce pure oxygen for patients with respiratory failure, as well as other high-performance polymers used to manufacture protective masks.
Following a partnership with DuPont focused on PPE materials, Cummins Inc. (Columbus, Ind.; www.cummins.com) has reached an agreement with 3M (St. Paul, Minn.; www.3m.com) to manufacture high-efficiency particulate filters for use in 3M’s Powered Air Purifying Respirators, or PAPRs.
A 3M Powered airpurifying respirators (PAPR) in use (Source: Cummins)
Powered air purifying respirators (PAPRs) are an important piece of equipment for front-line healthcare workers responding to the COVID-19 pandemic. The partnership has the potential to more than double the current production of filters for 3M’s PAPRs. The additional filters are needed as 3M has ramped up production of PAPRs to meet a surge in demand for personal protective equipment due to the COVID-19 outbreak.
Cummins will use its workforce and existing equipment at its Neillsville, Wisconsin facility to pleat the media, assemble it into cartridge housings and do final testing before shipping the filters to Valley, Nebraska, where 3M’s PAPRs are manufactured. Production of the filters at Cummins’ Neillsville location is expected to begin by the end of April.
During the pandemic, 3D printing technology has proven useful for the rapid prototyping and manufacture of PPE products, such as masks and face shields. Now, GE Appliances (GEA; www.geappliances.com) and FirstBuild are teaming with the maker community and the University of Louisville (UofL) to manufacture face shields for healthcare workers and first responders. Using 3-D technology at both the GEA printing labs and its FirstBuild microfactory, engineers are producing shields that will be donated to the medical community through UofL. The UofL Additive Manufacturing Institute of Science and Technology, which is located next to and collaborates with FirstBuild, is also creating face shields for local hospitals.
To ramp up production of the shields, FirstBuild has mobilized the maker community. Randy Reeves, FirstBuild director of manufacturing operations, connected with local makers and GEA suppliers to join in producing the shields. John Riley with Maker13, a makerspace in Southern Indiana, offered to print parts, and then ramped up to produce the headbands by the thousands with support from Samtec and Jones Machine & Tool, Inc. Owings Patterns, a supplier to Appliance Park, called with an offer to mass produce the clear shields. They quickly tooled up and are now producing in the thousands as well.
As part of this effort, GEA and FirstBuild are also putting out a call for even more makers. Nick Okruch, GEA technical director for 3-D technologies, said the 3-D printed headband used for the shields can be produced on home 3-D printers.