Recently Northern Strands purchased a 3D printer from Wave of the Future 3D. At the time we purchased a 3D printer in the interest of innovation and cost savings. It was a excellent investment for Northern Strands, with the cost of 3D printers going down and the quality and capabilities of 3D printers going up. 

It was business as usual...Then seemingly out of nowhere the world changed. Covid-19 was spreading throughout the world and Canada. The virus has put a strain on healthcare systems around the world. In Saskatchewan and Canada, there is a shortage of personal protective equipment or PPE for our healthcare workers. A local dentist approached the owner of Northern Strands, Garry Clarke, asking what our capabilities are and if we could help out? At the same time we were receiving emails from SIMSA(Saskatchewan and industrial mining supply chain association), asking their members if we could donate PPE? We wanted to help in any way we could. Our first thought was to check our own PPE inventory for N95 masks. Our sister company, Fortis Mining Engineering & Manufacturing had N95 masks in stock! We immediately donated 80 masks to St. Paul's hospital in Saskatoon. 

Next we contacted our 3D printer supplier, Wave of the Future 3D, and asked if our 3D printer had the potential to fabricate anything that would be of use to the healthcare industry? We soon realized that our 3D printer could indeed help in the production of face shields for healthcare workers. Specifically, we can fabricate the headband component of the face shield. Currently we are printing 24 a day and sending them to Wave of the Future 3D. They will then assemble them and send them to the hospitals and other healthcare facilities that require them. Recently Global News did a story on Wave of the Future 3D's fabrication of face shields and other needed ventilator parts https://globalnews.ca/news/6728235/saskatoon-business-3d-printing-supplies-covid-19/ 

Video of the below medical face shield headband being 3D printed 

https://youtu.be/0EgQIgCj7sU