Stratasys mobilises 3D printing expertise in response to COVID-19 crisis

Stratasys, a leading manufacturer of 3D printers and 3D production systems for office-based rapid prototyping and direct digital manufacturing solutions, has scores of professional 3D printers available to apply to the challenge of producing shields at scale, particularly across its Stratasys Direct Manufacturing facilities across the US. The facilities are mainly based in Eden Prairie, Minnesota, in and around Austin, Texas and Valencia, California. A number of other large manufacturers and educational institutions with production grade 3D printers have donated their capacity to help. These include Wentworth Institute of Technology in Boston, Queensborough Community College in New York City, and the Savannah College of Art and Design in Savannah, Ga.

Stratasys has set up a web page where organisations can request 3D printed products to help with the ongoing COVID crisis, offering 3D printing capacity, or request 3D printers or material for medical- or safety-related purposes. The company is also planning to respond to the crisis in additional ways. An initiative led by anesthesiology residents of Massachusetts General Hospital called the CoVent-19 Challenge is planning to ask engineers and designers to help develop a new rapidly deployable ventilator and other innovative solutions to the ventilator shortage, and Stratasys plans to support the challenge and promote it via its GrabCAD community of more than 7 million professional designers, engineers, manufacturers and students.