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Quant-U donates custom 3D printed shoes to Dutch hospital workers AM Industry

by Consumer

Quant-U, a 3D footwear customization service launched by Danish shoes company ECCO in collaboration with Dow, has stepped up to play a small but meaningful role in the fight against COVID-19. According to the company, it has donated 100 pairs of customized shoes to frontline ICU medical staff at OLVG hospitals in Amsterdam. The company’s gesture will help provide some much needed comfort to the strained and undoubtedly tired medical staff and showcases that there are many ways people and companies can play a role in helping essential workers.

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HP COVID-19 devices are the next million-part 3D printing application AM Industry

by Business

In the very first days of the COVID-19 emergency in Europe, 3dpbm connected with the team at HP evaluating possible responses. At the time HP was working on just two medically validated devices: the Materialise hands-free door opener and a surgical mask fitter. Since then, Fabio Annunziata, who during “peacetime” heads Strategy and Planning for HP 3D Printing and Digital Manufacturing business, built an internal team and coordinated with HP centers and customers around Europe and North America to 3D print and deliver to hospitals over a million protection devices. Healthcare professionals were able to use these 3D printed devices to defend themselves against the virus during exhausting shifts attending to COVID-19 patients. We caught up with Fabio to understand the challenges associated with this effort and what it means for the 3D printing industry as a whole.

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CTA requests tariff exemptions for 3D printers, robots and more Legislation

by Business

While the United States Trade Representative Office (USTR) has made certain exemptions in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic—including waiving tariffs on imported ventilators, oxygen masks and nebulizers—a number of U.S. trade groups, including the Consumer Technology Association (CTA), have requested to broaden the scope of tariff-free products. Reuters reports that the CTA has called on the USTR to waive tariffs on products including 3D printers, drones, robots and personal computers that are made in China.

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Westinghouse Electric Company installs 3D printed part in commercial nuclear reactor Industrial Additive Manufacturing

by Environment

A significant milestone for additive manufacturing has been achieved in the nuclear industry: a first-of-its-kind 3D printed component has successfully been installed into a commercial nuclear reactor. The part, a 3D printed thimble plugging device, was installed by nuclear energy company Westinghouse Electric Company at Exelon’s Byron Unit 1 nuclear plant during its spring refueling outage.