San-Francisco-based contract manufacturer Fictiv has announced that hospitals and healthcare providers can begin ordering protective face shields in batches of up to 10,000 per order at cost, for shipment as fast as one day. The company has combined its global manufacturing network with a newly designed tool to produce millions of face shields for the fight against COVID-19.
The shield is based on open-source face shield designs, similar to the visor recommended by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), but is modified with a closed top to be more consistent with the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) recommendations. While many recent face shields have been manufactured using 3D printing, Fictiv’s manufacturing team, which includes engineers with experience at enterprise medical device companies, has modified the design and set up an injection molding tool to reach production volumes up to 100x greater than 3D printing for a production quantity totaling millions of shields per month.
Fictiv has invested in the upfront tooling costs to make the shields available as quickly and easily as possible to healthcare agencies, service providers, distributors, and non-healthcare OEMs that are pivoting to support the healthcare industry during this crisis. The pricing will be matched to cost, and additionally, any longer-term profits beyond initial tooling and unit manufacturing costs will be donated to the COVID-19 Solidarity Response Fund for WHO.
“The ability to quickly innovate and pivot in a way that enables others epitomizes the spirit of Silicon Valley, and it speaks to the Fictiv team’s creativity to develop this unique way of leveraging skills, scale, and manufacturing prowess to help people at a time we need it most,” said G2VP Partner Dan Oros.
Healthcare purchasers can request a quote for the face shields in batches of 1,000, 5,000, or 10,000 by filling out the form on this webpage: https://fictiv.com/covid-19-face-shields. According to the company, after placing an order, a Fictiv representative will return a quote within one business day. Once purchased, customers can expect products to ship as fast as one business day.
“At a time like this, we’re pleased to help the healthcare industry any way we can. We would love to see other Bay Area companies, who are equally interested in helping, partner with us and donate the face shields in support of our front line healthcare workers in clinics, hospitals and labs around the country,” said Dave Evans, founder and CEO of Fictiv.
Face shield specifics:
- The design is based on open-source face shield models, similar to a 3D-printed visor recommended by the NIH;
- However, the recommended NIH design uses a swept-back headband that adds significant weight and decreased moldability;
- Fictiv has adapted the design to add a closed top, which is more consistent with ANSI standards;
- This design weighs under 50 grams and will be made using a material that provides the visor greater flex and comfort for lengthy all-day wear;
- This design also offers room under the face shield for goggles or larger respirators.
For more information or to request a quote, please visit Fictiv.
About Fictiv
Fictiv is a contract manufacturing service company that uses a digital manufacturing ecosystem that combines a cloud platform for design, quoting, billing and logistics systems and an intelligent orchestration engine that manages a network of manufacturing partners to deliver mechanical parts at speed. Services include additive manufacturing, urethane casting, injection molding and machining. To date, Fictiv has manufactured more than 10 million parts.