3D Printing Industry Produces Medical Supplies

A couple weeks ago, I wrote about how 3D printing could help plug the gap in manufacturing personal protective equipment and other critical medical supplies. Demand for these items is through the roof but supply remains choked by, well, a lot of factors.

In response to the shortage, companies quickly harnessed their 3D printing arsenals and prototyping expertise to make medical equipment instead of car parts or office supplies. HP, Volkswagen, and Ford are helping to create medical gear. Many 3D printing companies are also pitching in, including Carbon, Formlabs, Materialise, Prusa Research, and Stratasys.

• SmileDirectClub is now 3D printing medical supplies in addition to its teeth straightening kits.
• Minnesota deemed digital manufacturer Protolabs an "essential" business so it could stay open and create medical components.

Bottom line: There are about 47,000 industrial-scale 3D printers in the U.S., an industry analyst told Forbes. Many are idled. The more we can enlist for fighting COVID-19, the better.

+ While we're here: The CoVent-19 Challenge calls on companies to help create "rapidly deployable, minimum viable" mechanical ventilators.