Helping Makers fight covid-19
Update: large quantities of FACE SHIELDS are ready!
Makers Respond is a non-profit NGO formed under RESOLVE as an initiative to rally makers, manufacturers, and markets to support the COVID-19 response. Makers Respond facilitated cross-industry collaboration and partnerships to rapidly design, prototype, test, source materials, and scale to production our first piece of personal protection equipment – our low cost origami face shield.
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The VIRUS EXPOSED
A Supply Problem
The COVID-19 Pandemic has created a real crisis for the United State’s Medical & Healthcare workers. One look at the projected number of face shields the US medical industry will use over the course of the next year compared to the amount available in the national emergency stockpile, and it becomes very apparent that we are in dire need of supplies. Realizing that face shields are only one type of critically needed PPE brings the full enormity of the problem into focus.
Thankfully, makers – a robust community of innovators, recognized these needs and have stepped up to fill the gap while traditional manufacturing is catching up. These makers are working tirelessly to solve the problem, and MAKERS RESPOND is here to get them the support that they need in order to do it.
Face Shields already produced
Face shields in production
Immediate production goal
MAKERS RESPOND
Rallying Support
Behind the scenes, invisible to many, there is a large collective of makers working to solve the medical supply shortage problems brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic. These networks of design, engineering, and manufacturing pioneers have a demonstrated ability to innovate and move faster than most traditional resources. Largely comprised of volunteers, these makers need immediate support, and they need it quickly and efficiently.
That’s where the MAKERS RESPOND initiative steps in. We’re a grass roots movement of industry leaders, collaborators, manufacturers, laborers, and makers that is currently focused on one goal: Supporting the maker networks that are producing life-saving personal protective equipment (PPE) for health care workers during the COVID-19 Outbreak.
To bend the COVID-19 curve and keep essential workers and communities safe we need to scale PPE production. With traditional supply chains fractured MakersRespond.org is uniquely positioned to rally thousands of volunteer makers to fill shortages. The MakersRespond formula is to find the open-source designs that are safe and can scale nationally and then globally, create new supply chain partnerships, like those with Coca-Cola, and produce a donated PPE product for each sold at cost.
Who
Community
By combining hyper-local community maker efforts with global resources, we’re able to respond to crisis at a rapid pace.
Scale
By pairing product engineers and global visionaries with highly skilled American manufacturing, we can rise to face challenges at a national scale.
Forward Looking
By applying lessons learned, and thinking beyond the current pandemic, we seek ways to meet future challenges before the need becomes critical.
Origami Faceshield
Rapid Local Production
This crisis is a unique situation that requires an innovative solution. Communities of makers around the nation are designing alternate forms of PPE using readily available materials, and inventing workflows for the equipment they have on hand. Makers Respond works with these makers and other cross industry teams to source material, production capabilities, and other resources with the goal of rapid PPE deployment to critical care Hospitals. Our organization’s first high-volume, production ready product is an open sourced face shield made from the same material used by the food and beverage industry for plastic bottles and cartons.
K&W finishing, inc. typically works with paper products but through the 2020 Covid-19 pandemic, they have done some minor shop conversions to help the demands for face shields. K&W is currently die cutting, stripping, and packaging face shields for medical use from Maryland all the way to NYC. Our entire network of partners is working hard within the below set of criteria to innovate the production and deployment of PPE in the U.S.
Source materials readily available
Utilize existing equipment and resources
Design PPE that is easy to manufacture
Maintain quality while innovating production speed
What
A Team abroad
Working Hard, Working Smart
Our core team is located in the Northeast region of the US and the San Francisco Bay Area. Our extended team encompasses Washington, DC, Atlanta, GA and Austin, TX and we draw additional support from makerspaces and individuals across the entire US and beyond.
Where
Team Leaders
Sarah B. Thompson
Co-Executive Director
Bill Schongar
Co-Executive Director
Adam Istvan
Director of Manufacturing
Adam Shrey
Makerspace Coordinator
rapid response
Ahead of the Curve
Before even the earliest states issued stay-at-home orders, makers had identified the impending PPE needs of healthcare workings during the pandemic, and were working on solutions. While traditional manufacturing channels were struggling to catch up, thousands of volunteer makers and micro-manufacturers were already producing equipment and delivering it directly to local facilities in need.
Makers Respond knows the value of these creative communities, and strives to enable them to act even faster. By supporting them with core resources such as materials, equipment, and funding, we can help remove the obstacles slowing these groups down.
When
Maker News
Strategic partnerships
United and Independent
The strength of maker networks is in their flat, informal structure. Makers Respond is empowering and reinforcing this, while simultaneously opening up the advantages of national partnerships and supply chains.
By using existing cross industry supply, rapid innovation, end user testing, and medical system review at an unprecedented pace, Makers Respond is accelerating the makers’ response.
How
Our Project Partners
