“Our motivation couldn’t be greater”

When Hewlett-Packard (HP) pushed to make 3D printing a key part of its business portfolio, Ramon Pastor (PDD ’01) couldn’t have imagined that their pioneering efforts would end up being used in the global fight against the coronavirus pandemic. But this is 3D printing’s great advantage: the technology is versatile enough to be used for any number of applications in very little time.

Work teams from HP’s R&D center near Barcelona – where Pastor, head of HP’s 3D printing division, is based – are working in close collaboration with their counterparts in Corvallis (Oregon), San Diego and Vancouver (Washington) to respond to growing requests from hospitals, medical professionals and industrial companies in all the regions of the world where HP operates.

Ramon Pastor is using HP’s 3D printing capabilities to produce essential medical supplies around the world.

“We study the requests and allocate them to different teams according to their nature, so the relevant team can gear up the machinery,” says Pastor. “Besides our own employees, who have really stepped up, a network of other companies, tech centers and volunteers has come together, willing to use their own 3D devices to print the materials that hospitals demand. We’re providing designs and technical advice, as well as lending our own 3D production capacity, to the collective effort.”

As soon as each design is validated by the relevant authority, HP works fast to scale production, so that thousands of the approved products reach hospitals on the frontlines. So far, HP has produced face masks, face shields, mask adjusters and hands-free door openers. It’s also working against the clock to test and validate a mechanical bag valve mask that can be used for emergency ventilation of COVID-19 patients. And nasopharyngeal swabs, FFP3 masks and ventilators are in development.

The challenge now is to set up more local supply chains for final assembly and distribution of products, which entails collaborating with each country’s authorities. “It’s a tremendous logistical challenge,” says Pastor, “but the motivation to achieve it couldn’t be greater.”

MORE INFO: Go to https://enable.hp.com/us-en-3dprint-COVID-19-containment-applications to find out how to produce critical parts to help meet urgent needs.