Glass Industry News

O-I 3D Prints Face Shield Frames for Northwest Ohio Medical Workers

, O-I

O-I Glass, Inc. is using its 3D printing capabilities to make face shield frames, a piece of personal protective equipment (PPE), for members of the Northwest Ohio medical community who are on the front lines of the COVID-19 health crisis.

The worldwide glass packaging manufacturer typically devotes its 3D printer at the Perrysburg, Ohio, headquarters to creating new glass packaging prototypes for the food and beverage industry. When Robex, an area industrial automation company, reached out to coordinate a plan to produce face shields to help area medical workers, O-I jumped at the chance.

Face shields in the medical community resemble a welder’s mask. Nurses and physicians often use the shields along with surgical masks to add another protective layer to guard against airborne viruses. O-I is making frames to hold the shield.

A view of the assembled face shields for Northwest Ohio medical workers. (Robex)

While the company’s global campus is closed to office workers because of COVID-19, O-I is making these reusable face shield frames around the clock by using its existing pool of essential employees—the security and maintenance crew.

“We produced a short training video to show them how,” says Senior Program Manager Brian Chisholm. “They started producing the products almost immediately.”

Security staff is timing their rounds so they can be in O-I’s Glass and Materials Science Lab to remove completed print jobs and start new ones; the new frames will be ready by the next time they conduct their rounds in the lab.

David Hoadley, O-I’s director of Innovative Package Solutions, says the security and maintenance employees were eager to help: “Everybody wants to feel like they are contributing.”

The plan came together over the Good Friday and Easter holiday weekend. O-I delivered the first batch of frames Saturday. Craig Francisco, vice president of strategy at Robex, says, “O-I has committed resources and technology to help us keep up with demand.” He says the project has “been emotionally fueled with sincere gratitude” as medical workers receive the PPE.

As the leader in manufacturing sustainable glass packaging, this project continues that tradition. The face shield frames are reusable, while 3D printing is “as close to zero waste manufacturing as you can get,” Hoadley says.

O-I’s staff is able to produce about 150 face shield frames each week and plans to continue to help as long as hospitals and other health care workers need it.

As glass container makers, O-I is part of the food and beverage supply chain that many governments around the world have deemed essential during COVID-19.

, © O-I

Il materiale informativo del sito è registrato ed appartiene all´azienda o ai terzi che lo hanno fornitoe tutti i diritti sono riservati. Qualsiasi utente che accede a tale materiale può farlo solo ad uso personale e ne è anche responsabile. Ridistribuzione o altro uso commerciale di tale materiale è espressamente proibito. Nel caso in cui il materiale sia stato ceduto da terzi, l´utente concorda di rispettare questi termini di utilizzo specificati. Glass Global non garantisce la veridicità o l´esattezza del contenuto di alcuna informazione o di siti web esterni menzionati nelle stesse.

Should the content or the design of these sites violate third parties rights or legal prescriptions, we kindly ask you to send us a respective message without invoice or cost. We guarantee that passages where the claim is considered as justified will be removed immediately, without any necessity to involve any lawyer into this issue. We will reject any claim caused by submission of a honorary note in this regard without any prior contact and confirmation of the issueby us and we reserve the right ssue counter claim ourselves because of violation of aforesaid conditions.



Info Grid

Glass studies

Updated worldwide glass study 2024

plants.glassglobal.com

Updated hollow glass study 2024

Request more information

Updated float glass study 2024

Request more information

Further glass market studies

Request more information

Profilo Aziendale



Updated worldwide glass market study 2024 available now for flat, container glass and tableware

We have updated our international studies on flat glass, container glass and tableware for 2024.

This unique software provides a global overview about glass producers and technical details. Easy to use and clear tables summarize information and data about glass makers such as: Glass types: flat glass, container glass, tableware, production capacities in regions and countries, number of furnaces, furnace types, year of construction, glass types and sub-types, products, project information, special news and downloads.

Further databases supplying demoscopic data and import and export data complete the market survey. Based on these data, prepare individual country profiles with information about local production capacities, local market sizes and expected demand in the future.

Request your offer via plants.glassglobal.com.

Updated container glass study 2024

X

Updated float glass study 2024

X

Further glass studies and reports 2024

X