With demand for Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) among the NHS (National Health Service) community growing, Broadwater Mouldings, a FRP manufacturer, has turned over their 3D printer to produce protective shield frames. This initiative has been coordinated by BT at Adastral Park who has delivered over 4700 protective shields to hospitals and care homes.

 

Broadwater Moulding reported that the NHS staff, and essential workers on the frontline, are exposed on a daily basis while the majority of the country has been following government guidelines and staying at home. Dwindling supplies of PPE have been at the forefront of the governments initiative to protect the NHS and the most vulnerable.

 

Usually reserved for producing prototypes and machine parts, the company’s Ultimaker S5 printer is capable of producing 15 frames per day from ABS strand. 

 

“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,” Carl Reddington, project engineering manager, said in a press release.