In response to the corona crisis, the Volkswagen Group has started to produce face shield holders by 3D printing. This is part of a joint transnational initiative with Airbus and the 3D printing network ‘Mobility goes Additive’, which includes about 250 companies. The products developed by Airbus will be used in Spain and will be flown from Hamburg to Madrid by Airbus, next week. This cross-industrial initiative was launched in response to requests from the Spanish authorities, which will also distribute the products in the country.
A conventional plastic foil will be inserted into the holders by third parties now being produced by Volkswagen. With these shields, the entire face will be covered by transparent protection. In order to ensure the highest possible standards of hygiene, Volkswagen employees producing the holders will wear gloves and face masks.
A 3D printer in the process of making the face shield holder
Gerd Walker, Head of Volkswagen Group Production, said, “Our team is already working at full speed to make these urgently needed parts as quickly as possible.” Production is in progress not only at the large 3D printing centers in Wolfsburg and Ingolstadt, but also at other plants of Audi, Bentley, Bugatti, MAN Truck & Bus, Porsche, Volkswagen Passenger Cars, Volkswagen Group Components and Volkswagen Motorsport. The Group currently uses more than 50 3D printers at its plants continuously adding additional printers for this project.”
Lamborghini, SEAT, Skoda and Volkswagen Passenger Cars are also working on other medical supplies. To date, Volkswagen has already donated several hundred thousand medical face masks for the public health system in Germany. The Volkswagen Group has also decided to donate additional medical supplies such as face masks and protective clothing for medical centres and hospitals with a total value of about 40 million Euros.
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