Covid-19: Massey Ferguson supplies face shields to medical staff
17th April 2020
Agco brand Massey Ferguson is using 3D printing technology at its facility in Beauvais, France, to produce and donate full face shields to its local medical staff, who are working
Agco brand Massey Ferguson is using 3D printing technology at its facility in Beauvais, France, to produce and donate full face shields to its local medical staff, who are working hard to save lives in the Covid-19 pandemic.
After learning that Caen’s Hospital in Normandy was very short on protective equipment, the non-profit Les Visières de l’Espoir, or ‘Hope’s Face Shields’, called on a network of French companies to create 13,000 face shields for 94 hospitals and medical centres across the country.
Agco Beauvais’s vice-president of manufacturing, Boussad Bouaouli, said: “The Massey Ferguson team is humbled by the opportunity to help.”
The company had been due to start its additive manufacturing activities, to produce small series parts for its tractors’ production, as well as its new tractors’ personalisation workshop. However, with manufacturing activities temporarily on hold due to the coronavirus pandemic, Boussad said: “We see additive manufacturing as a modest contribution, yet full of meaning, from us to help stop the pandemic.”
“The strengths of additive manufacturing and 3D printing – print anything, adapt on the fly – make it an opportunity to help address shortages of parts related to face shields among other things. The face shield has a 3D printed frame and a transparent plastic shield to provide protection for workers.”
Massey Ferguson will be producing and donating the face shields to medical workers for three weeks, starting on 6th April.