Avfuel Manufactures PPE During COVID-19 Shortage

OEM professionals in the Avtank division at Avfuel’s headquarters in Ann Arbor, Michigan are manufacturing personal protective equipment for the medical community during the COVID-19 pandemic.

To assist in the PPE shortage, the team uses four 3D printers to create face mask ear hooks and face shield headbands to protect front line workers. The PPE is then sent to a company in southeast Michigan to be sanitized, packaged and transported to the local facilities in greatest need.

As of April 10, Avfuel has produced 200 ear hooks during the prototype stage beginning earlier in the week—sending 175 of these to the University of Michigan Hospital—as well as more than 30 face shield headbands that went to the sanitization site for distribution as production reached capacity with on-hand printers on April 9. The team looks forward to adding more printers, including a larger, faster unit, in the next week. Once all machines come online, Avfuel estimates it will be able to produce more than 100 pieces of PPE per day.