Caraga Fablab eyeing to produce more face shields for COVID-19 frontliners
By Mike Crismundo
BUTUAN CITY – To help frontliners engaged in the battle against the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), shared service facility (SSF) Fabrication Laboratory (FabLab Caraga) is eyeing to produce more protective gear.
Fablab Caraga is striving to reach the production rate of 200 every day as they shift their production by utilizing a laser cutting machine.
The laboratory has already printed 220 protective gears using three dimensional (3D) printing.
The laboratory has already provided face shields for the Philippine Medical Association, local government unit of Butuan City, DTI, Department of Science and Technology (DOST), Philippine Information Agency (PIA) and Caraga State University (CSU).
FabLab Caraga, one of the SSF projects of the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), started producing face shields last March 23.
The management of Fablab Caraga said that they would willingly accept written requests from various agencies and organizations as well as financial and material donations.
“This is already a humanitarian effort by the Fablab Caraga and we are thankful of their innovative effort,” DTI 13 Regional Director Brielgo O. Pagaran told The Manila Bulletin on Tuesday.
In 2017, DTI Caraga provided assistance worth P12 million for the purchase of two units of 3D printers, laser cutter and engraver, wood milling machine, computer numerical control (CNC) machine for metal crafts, and large format printers.
Nationwide, SSF is a project of DTI that targets to give MSMEs access to better technology and sophisticated equipment to become more competitive in the field.