To help with the increased demand for Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), Suffolk based manufacturer Broadwater Mouldings have turned over its 3D printer to produce protective shield frames for healthcare workers.
This initiative has been co-ordinated by BT at Adastral Park in Suffolk, who with the help of other local businesses, have delivered over 4700 protective shields to local hospitals, GP practices and care homes.
The company specialises in moulding high quality Fibre Reinforced Plastics (FRP) and fabricating finished assembled FRP components for a diverse portfolio of global customers. The Ultimaker S5 printer, which is usually used to produce prototypes and machine parts, has proven capable of producing fifteen frames per day from Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene (ABS) strand.
Carl Reddington, project engineering manager, commented: “Broadwater Mouldings produce high quality, precision FRP parts for medical equipment on a daily basis. Our 3D printer has been a reliable and essential tool for development and maintenance, so we were happy to be able to utilise this further, in order to help the PPE cause. I was pleased to deliver our first consignment of 60 to BT and will continue round-the-clock production until we run out of material”.