Coronavirus pandemic: Our plastic products in action

Since it became clear that the demand for respiratory protection devices and ventilator systems was rising massively across the world, new platforms emerged on which initiatives from the key medical technology sector can cross-link at an international level. In association with external partners, Ensinger is participating in several cooperative ventures with the aim of making large numbers of these kinds of medical devices available. For this purpose we have specially created a cross-divisional and cross-site task force.

Our expertise and rapid, non-bureaucratic approach was needed for example in the following projects:

Protective visors for hospitals and medical practices

Since respirator masks are in short supply even in hospitals and medical practices, they are being worn longer than the time they offer protection for when in contact with Covid-19 patients. Transparent protective visors (face shields) offer an additional barrier against viruses. The headband for the visor is made from engineering plastics.

In March, we received a request from Spain for PETG filaments. The authorities in Madrid are distributing filament coils to people who own 3D printers who then produce headbands for protective visors in their private homes. As soon as the shields are assembled, they are passed on to hospitals by the police.

In order to increase production capacity at short notice, one insulbar extrusion line was converted to filament production. Within a week, we dispatched the required coils to Spain.

Other Ensinger plastics are also required as materials for the headbands. A leading manufacturer of laser cutting machines, for example, is producing the visor headbands from TECAFORM AH natural. Final assembly and delivery to hospitals in the Stuttgart region is being carried out by a research association at the University of Stuttgart.