At the Slant 3D printing factory just outside of Boise, Idaho, Embry-Riddle alumnus Gabriel Bentz (’15) is producing nearly 1,000 face shields a day to protect hospital workers in COVID-19 pandemic hotspots like California and New York.
“Right now, we are working with hospitals and state governments,” says Bentz, CEO and a founder of Slant 3D. “Our face shields have been widely adopted as a device to be used.”
Raised on a cattle ranch in eastern Oregon, Bentz started his first company, Slant Concepts, an engineering and design company, in 2014, when he was still a mechanical engineering and robotics student at Embry-Riddle’s campus in Prescott, Arizona.
Founded in 2017, Slant 3D, a spinoff of the original company, is a high-volume 3D printing production company that also offers product design and advanced engineering services. The manufacturing business produces more than 10,000 parts a week for clients across the country.
When the COVID-19 pandemic hit the United States with a fury a few weeks ago and hospitals and clinics started reporting a shortage of personal protective equipment (PPE), Bentz says he wanted to help. For traditional manufacturing businesses, it is time-consuming, costly and difficult to ramp up fabrication of new products for a short stint, but 3D printing is more nimble.
“They’re looking for a more flexible alternative, which is why 3D printing is so valuable,” says Bentz. “Because right now, we are able to take a design or concept and put it into production at a rate of tens of thousands per week. And we do all of that in days, if not hours.”
Bentz has plans to potentially manufacture up to 2,000 face shields per day. While still serving his existing clients, he has been able to redirect some of his facility’s printing capacity to produce face shields and other protective and limited-contact accessories for healthcare professionals. Slant 3D created a line of printed face shields and their individual parts, which can be swapped out. Additionally, the company created hands-free door accessories and emergency ventilator parts.
“We’re experimenting with respirators, but that’s a lot more difficult to do,” Bentz says.
Bentz says it is gratifying to know that the products his company is producing may now be saving lives around the country. “It is great to have that capability,” he says.