Recent months have proven that grassroots community initiatives can have a real, positive impact on the pressing problems of almost the entire world. Actions such as #MaskaDlaMedyka have proven that the spontaneous commitment of volunteers is a huge power and can develop into a nationwide social campaign, which will be joined by hundreds of people who want to help – from representatives of polytechnics and large companies to individual 3D printing enthusiasts and private donors.
Recent months have proven that grassroots community initiatives can have a real, positive impact on the pressing problems of almost the entire world. Actions such as #MaskaDlaMedyka (Mask For Medic) have proven that the spontaneous commitment of volunteers is a huge power and can develop into a nationwide social campaign, which will be joined by hundreds of people who want to help – from representatives of polytechnics and large companies to individual 3D printing enthusiasts and private donors.
#MaskaDlaMedyka is a social action whose mission is to ensure the safety of as many employees of the health care system as possible, exposed to direct contact with the SARS-CoV-2 virus. To this end, using the solutions used, among others in Italy or the Czech Republic, those involved in the action collect and transform using the adapters of the Decathlon EasyBreath snorkling masks into highly effective protective masks for medical personnel.
In the last days of the #MaskaDlaMedyka campaign, a breakthrough has occurred. The Great Orchestra of Christmas Charity financed the purchase of 10,000 masks, which will be transferred to medical centers across Poland. Ilirjan Osmanaj, the coordinator of cooperation with partners and one of the initiators of the action, says that the decision of the Great Orchestra of Christmas Charity pleased the organizers of the action, but was also associated with a great commitment in adapting equipment for medics. Volunteers had to act quickly to produce over 10,000 adapters in the shortest possible time, taking into account the new design and testing phase necessary to launch mass production.
The organizers of the #MaskaDlaMedyka campaign with the help of the future 3D LAB company, YASA Motors Poland, Andrychowska Fabryka Maszyn Defum s.a. and NB Polska sp.z o.o. (Velux Group). The unprecedented cooperation of these companies and the involvement of the people working in them have allowed us to design and launch mass production of adapters by injection molding in record time. All work was carried out within 11 days!
The #MaskaDlaMedyka Group, composed of practitioners and employees of leading technical universities in Poland, has developed a design and prototype of the adapter. The 3D Lab team was responsible for finding and selecting partners with the necessary technological resources, while Yasa Motors Poland took on the implementation of the injection mold design and production of its sensitive parts. Andrychowska Fabryka Maszyn Defum s.a. prepared the remaining elements needed to assemble the complete injection mold. The last move belonged to NB Polska sp.z o.o. Marcin Ziętarek, head of the Toolroom and Injection Department of NB Polska, says that after several hours of intensive work, they managed to start mass production of adapters, achieving performance counted in thousands of ready components per day.
Ilirjan Osmanaj points out that the companies involved in the production process of adapters do not cooperate with each other on a daily basis. The pace achieved by the team members involved is absolutely record, given that all activities were agreed and coordinated remotely. Importantly, we were able to achieve this while maintaining the highest quality of production.
The involvement of the companies and persons participating in the project was completely non-commercial. All work was done as part of a sense of social solidarity and the obligation to support medics, and the companies involved in the production financed the materials and the cost of production on their own.
Bartosz Kamiński, co-creator of the #MaskaDlaMedyka campaign, claims that the attitude of companies and people involved in helping deserves the highest recognition. In his opinion, this is a great example of the social responsibility of Polish business and on behalf of the entire team of volunteers he would like to thank all the companies involved.
