Leveraging 3D Printing Capacity in Times of Crisis: Recommendations for COVID-19 Distributed Manufacturing for Medical Equipment Rapid Response

Albert Manero, Peter Smith, Amanda Koontz, Matt Dombrowski, John Sparkman, Dominique Courbin and Albert Chi
Additional contact information
Albert Manero: Limbitless Solutions, University of Central Florida, 4217 E Plaza Drive, Orlando, FL 32816, USA
Peter Smith: Limbitless Solutions, University of Central Florida, 4217 E Plaza Drive, Orlando, FL 32816, USA
Amanda Koontz: Department of Sociology, University of Central Florida, 4000 Central Florida Blvd, Orlando, FL 32816, USA
Matt Dombrowski: Limbitless Solutions, University of Central Florida, 4217 E Plaza Drive, Orlando, FL 32816, USA
John Sparkman: Limbitless Solutions, University of Central Florida, 4217 E Plaza Drive, Orlando, FL 32816, USA
Dominique Courbin: Limbitless Solutions, University of Central Florida, 4217 E Plaza Drive, Orlando, FL 32816, USA
Albert Chi: Division of Trauma, Critical Care & Acute Care Surgery, Department of Surgery, Oregon Health and Science University, 3181 SW Sam Jackson Park Rd, Portland, OR 97239, USA

IJERPH, 2020, vol. 17, issue 13, 1-17

Abstract: The SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) pandemic has provided a unique set of global supply chain limitations with an exponentially growing surge of patients requiring care. The needs for Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) for hospital staff and doctors have been overwhelming, even just to rule out patients not infected. High demand for traditionally manufactured devices, challenged by global demand and limited production, has resulted in a call for additive manufactured (3D printed) equipment to fill the gap between traditional manufacturing cycles. This method has the unique ability to pivot in real time, while traditional manufacturing may take months to change production runs. 3D printing has been used to produce a variety of equipment for hospitals including face shields, masks, and even ventilator components to handle the surge. This type of rapid, crowd sourced, design and production resulted in new challenges for regulation, liability, and distribution. This manuscript reviews these challenges and successes of additive manufacturing and provides a forward plan for hospitals to consider for future surge events. Recommendations: To accommodate future surges, hospitals and municipalities should develop capacity for short-run custom production, enabling them to validate new designs. This will rapidly increase access to vetted equipment and critical network sharing with community distributed manufacturers and partners. Clear guidance and reviewed design repositories by regulatory authorities will streamline efforts to combat future pandemic waives or other surge events.

Keywords: COVID-19; 3D printing; PPE; social networks (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

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