7 April 2020 - Leading parcel delivery firm DPD has joined forces with 3DCrowd, the community of 3D printer owners who are using their machines to help alleviate the acute shortage of personal protective equipment (PPE) for frontline healthcare workers.
Thousands of volunteers across the UK are giving up their time to use their 3D printers to make the components to create face shields - a full-face visor on a plastic headband - which protects the whole of the front of the face.
DPD is collecting the component parts from all the different volunteers and delivering them, free-of-charge, to a central hub in Sheffield where the face masks are being assembled by a company called Pimoroni.
DPD will then distribute the completed visors to hospitals, GP practices and other healthcare organisations around the country.
The design for the masks was supplied by Josef Prusa, a 3D printer based in the Czech Republic. Volunteer printers have been supplying their own materials to produce the shields. 3DCrowd has also been collecting donations through crowd funding.
Dwain McDonald, DPD UK's CEO commented,
"This is a really smart example of a community working together and shows how our nationwide network can be used to support key services at this time. Our healthcare workers are doing a fantastic job - despite the exceedingly difficult situation they find themselves in. The supply of the much-needed face-shields is crucial, and we are delighted to be able to help."
For information on how to donate to 3DCrowd or offer your services as a 3D printer visit: https://www.3dcrowd.uk/
About DPD UK
The UK's favourite parcel delivery company: DPD has been voted top in MoneySavingExpert's consumer satisfaction poll for parcel delivery companies seven years running.
In April 2015, DPD was awarded the Queen's Award for Enterprise 2015 in the Innovation category, for its unique one-hour delivery service, Predict.
DPD is a member of DPD group, one of Europe's leading parcels groups, wholly owned by France's La Poste, the second largest postal group in Europe.
The company operates more than 8,000 vehicles from 68 locations and delivers over 250 million parcels a year.
