Ensuring its frontline medical staff are equipped with the appropriate equipment during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the University Hospital Trust (AP-HP) in Paris, France, has invested in a fleet of 60 industrial-grade Stratasys FDM 3D Printers. All of them arrived on Tuesday, 31 March, within 24 hours of ordering.

The installation of the F123 Series 3D Printers provides the AP-HP – the largest hospital system in Europe – with its own internal production arm to ensure fast and on-demand manufacturing of vital equipment currently needed for hospital workers, including protective face shields and masks, electrical syringe pumps, intubation equipment and respirator valves.

Dr. Roman Khonsari, a surgeon within the AP-HP leading the project, said 3D printing was the ideal solution to produce vital equipment on-site, bridging the shortfall in traditionally manufactured equipment. The system hired medical-focused 3D printing service provider Bone3D to provide the engineers to manage the implementation, operation and support of the fleet.

Stratasys EMEA President, Andreas Langfeld, said the pandemic has demonstrated that 3D printing can bring more agility to conventional medical product supply chains. “The sweeping and severe nature of COVID-19 continues to impact the supply chains of some of the world’s most critical medical equipment,” he said. “Leveraging 3D printing technology on this scale gives AP-HP its own rapid-response supply chain in-house, placing production directly where it’s needed and ensuring essential equipment is quickly in the hands of frontline medical staff who are battling every day to save lives.”

In parallel with the implementation of 3D printers, AP-HP has developed a dedicated 3D printing platform at 3dcovid.org to fast-track requests for 3D print projects from hospital workers within Paris and its surrounding areas.

Supplied via Stratasys’ French reseller partner, CADvision, the 60 3D printers were delivered within 24 hours of the order being placed and will be accommodated in a dedicated 150-square-meter facility within the AP-HP’s Cochin Hospital in Paris.
The AP-HPs effort to source equipment to support its medical staff has also been achieved with the help of the University of Paris and the Kering Group.

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