O-I 3D Prints Face Shield Frames for Toledo-area Medical Workers
April 14 2020 - 4:15PM
O-I Glass, Inc. (NYSE: OI) 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 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.
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 the 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 O-I’s
Glass and Materials Science 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.
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About O-I Glass
At O-I Glass, Inc. (NYSE: OI), we love glass and
we’re proud to make more of it than any other glass bottle or jar
producer in the world. We love that it’s beautiful, pure and
completely recyclable. With global headquarters in Perrysburg,
Ohio, we are the preferred partner for many of the world's leading
food and beverage brands. Working hand and hand with our customers,
we give our passion and expertise to make their bottles iconic and
help build their brands around the world. With more than 27,500
people at 78 plants in 23 countries, O-I has a global impact,
achieving revenues of $6.7 billion in 2019. For more information,
visit o-i.com.
For more information, contact:
Leslie Orozco
O-I Glass, Inc.
Corporate Communications Leader
Leslie.Orozco@o-i.com
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