America Makes says that it has received a US$1.4 million grant to help develop personal protective equipment (PPE).
According to the organization, there is a shortage of PPE because of the Covid-19 pandemic. It plans to work with small and medium sized manufacturers to help make them better positioned for the on-going crisis and future ones.
‘Since the beginning of the pandemic we have seen additive manufacturers (AM) across the country respond to deliver safe and effective PPE, showing how AM can be the solution to help solve critical supply chain gaps,’ said America Makes executive director John Wilczynski.
America Makes has worked with the US Federal Drug Administration (FDA), US Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), and National Institutes of Health (NIH) to coordinate guidance for the AM community and provide a vehicle to download reviewed 3D print PPE designs. So far, 31 designs have been optimized for clinical use, 28 designs have been optimized for community use, 499,166 units of AM products have been matched, including 229,995 non-N95 masks and 272,607 face shields, and there have been over 95,743 file downloads on the NIH 3D Print Exchange, the organisation said.
This story uses material from America Makes, with editorial changes made by Materials Today. The views expressed in this article do not necessarily represent those of Elsevier.
