TY - JOUR
T1 - Community-driven PPE production using additive manufacturing during the COVID-19 pandemic
T2 - Survey and lessons learned
AU - Budinoff, Hannah D.
AU - Bushra, Jannatul
AU - Shafae, Mohammed
N1 - Funding Information:
The authors would like to thank all survey respondents for taking the time to thoroughly answer our survey questions and for their dedication to fulfilling the PPE needs of their local communities. We are also thankful for the anonymous reviewers’ comments which helped improve the quality of our paper.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 The Society of Manufacturing Engineers
PY - 2021/7
Y1 - 2021/7
N2 - This study presents a detailed analysis of the production efforts for personal protective equipment in makerspaces and informal production spaces (i.e., community-driven efforts) in response to the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States. The focus of this study is on additive manufacturing (also known as 3D printing), which was the dominant manufacturing method employed in these production efforts. Production details from a variety of informal production efforts were systematically analyzed to quantify the scale and efficiency of different efforts. Data for this analysis was primarily drawn from detailed survey data from 74 individuals who participated in these different production efforts, as well as from a systematic review of 145 publicly available news stories. This rich dataset enables a comprehensive summary of the community-driven production efforts, with detailed and quantitative comparisons of different efforts. In this study, factors that influenced production efficiency and success were investigated, including choice of PPE designs, production logistics, and additive manufacturing processes employed by makerspaces and universities. From this investigation, several themes emerged including challenges associated with matching production rates to demand, production methods with vastly different production rates, inefficient production due to slow build times and high scrap rates, and difficulty obtaining necessary feedstocks. Despite these challenges, nearly every maker involved in these production efforts categorized their response as successful. Lessons learned and themes derived from this systematic study of these results are compiled and presented to help inform better practices for future community-driven use of additive manufacturing, especially in response to emergencies.
AB - This study presents a detailed analysis of the production efforts for personal protective equipment in makerspaces and informal production spaces (i.e., community-driven efforts) in response to the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States. The focus of this study is on additive manufacturing (also known as 3D printing), which was the dominant manufacturing method employed in these production efforts. Production details from a variety of informal production efforts were systematically analyzed to quantify the scale and efficiency of different efforts. Data for this analysis was primarily drawn from detailed survey data from 74 individuals who participated in these different production efforts, as well as from a systematic review of 145 publicly available news stories. This rich dataset enables a comprehensive summary of the community-driven production efforts, with detailed and quantitative comparisons of different efforts. In this study, factors that influenced production efficiency and success were investigated, including choice of PPE designs, production logistics, and additive manufacturing processes employed by makerspaces and universities. From this investigation, several themes emerged including challenges associated with matching production rates to demand, production methods with vastly different production rates, inefficient production due to slow build times and high scrap rates, and difficulty obtaining necessary feedstocks. Despite these challenges, nearly every maker involved in these production efforts categorized their response as successful. Lessons learned and themes derived from this systematic study of these results are compiled and presented to help inform better practices for future community-driven use of additive manufacturing, especially in response to emergencies.
KW - 3D printing
KW - COVID-19
KW - Community-driven production
KW - Distributed manufacturing
KW - Makerspaces
KW - Social production systems
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U2 - 10.1016/j.jmsy.2021.07.010
DO - 10.1016/j.jmsy.2021.07.010
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85111263493
VL - 60
SP - 799
EP - 810
JO - Journal of Manufacturing Systems
JF - Journal of Manufacturing Systems
SN - 0278-6125
ER -