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The Man Who Prints 3-D PPE

3D printing has become a stopgap for medical masks and other personal protective equipment (PPE).
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April 13, 2020

Acute shortage of medical equipment is one of the chief problems facing countries around the world in fighting the coronavirus pandemic. Manufacturers simply cannot keep up with the demand. In Israel, one man helping to ameliorate the crisis is Andrés Ideses, director of 3-D printing at the Center for Innovation at Mafil, one of the largest IT companies in Israel.

Eight years ago, Ideses founded Easy3D Model, which specializes in the sale of 3-D devices and provides 3-D-printing services. In 2018, Mafil bought the company, which has become one of Israel’s largest importers of 3D equipment. When the coronavirus outbreak hit Israel in early March, Ideses knew he couldn’t sit back and do nothing.

“The [3-D] printers were just standing there, looking pretty and waiting for us to show them to potential customers,” he said. But there were no potential customers because the country gradually was heading into lockdown.

Ideses, an immigrant from Argentina, reluctantly joined a WhatsApp group of 3D-printer aficionados in Israel. He realized his preconceived notions were wrong: This wasn’t a group of charlatans; these were industry leaders with major sway in Israel’s security and defense establishment as well as its healthcare system. The group quickly worked to secure the relevant permits from the Health Ministry to print medical equipment. Ideses told his colleagues in the WhatsApp group, “All of our equipment is at your service.”

The beauty of 3-D-printing technology is that it easily can be adapted for emergency situations. As Ideses explained, when borders began closing at alarming rates, procuring key parts for medical equipment became a nightmare. For example, take face-mask valves. The valves control oxygen flow from respirators to the patient but cannot be reused. Medical-device manufacturers can’t produce and ship the pieces fast enough, but Ideses’ department has the ability to create a digital file and print hundreds of valves in a matter of hours. The same goes for ventilator parts and testing kits.

“The amount of patients with corona[virus] is increasing every day, and unfortunately, this is not going to change soon,” Ideses said.

Medical staff also are at risk because of their exposure to COVID-19 patients. 3D printing has become a stopgap for medical masks and other personal protective equipment (PPE).

Ideses also offered solutions for other manufacturers deemed “essential services” in the pandemic, including the food industry. “If some piece on a production line breaks at a ‘critical’ factory, for example, it could end in disaster,” he said.

As of Passover eve, Mafil had printed approximately 800 medical-related items, including protective face masks and parts for medical devices, despite only obtaining the necessary permits a week prior. Neither Ideses nor Mafil is making a penny from it. “If we can help, we will, and with all our heart,” Ideses said.

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