With the Coronavirus putting a huge strain on hospitals, medical staff and supplies of vital equipment, Dana (the folks that make the drivetrains, e-propulsion systems and a whole lot more that goes into your trucks and equipment) has answered the call.
Dana and its engineering team have partnered with their local Toledo, Ohio-based hospitals to design, test and manufacturer face shields and patient enclosures to provide doctors, nurses and other hospital staff this desperately needed personal protective equipment.
Even more, the company has made these designs available for free as open source CAD drawings on their website dana.com/cares so that other individuals and manufacturers can begin to quickly produce the same equipment.
The Dana team is making the face shields using its state of the art 3D printers at its Advanced Manufacturing Center in Maumee, Ohio. They’ve also partnered with local high schools, the Imagination Station, and the University of Toledo to source, produce, and assemble the shields.
As of late last week the team was delivering approximately 100 face shields per day. According to Dana officials, the company hopes that by making the designs open source these numbers can rapidly increase. Additionally, the team has designed and tested a patient enclosure (intubation box), which helps to provide an additional layer of protection for hospital staff and has already delivered nearly three dozen of these to local hospitals.
Aside from manufacturing, what do American manufacturers do well? Logistics and supply chains. Dana is leveraging its global supply network to work as a matchmaker between PPE manufacturers and hospitals, police departments, and other emergency responders to streamline the delivery of gloves, gowns, glasses, shoe covers, and masks, which are becoming increasingly difficult for hospital’s to source within their own supply network.