Markforged’s Role in COVID‑19: Accelerating 3D‑Printed Medical Supplies

As the coronavirus pandemic surged globally, the additive manufacturing community rallied to meet critical shortages. Markforged, headquartered in a region heavily impacted by COVID‑19, has leveraged its expertise to supply life‑saving medical components—nasal swabs, face guards, and more—through a coordinated, cloud‑connected printer network.

How 3D Printing Supports the Pandemic Response

2‑step strategy: 1. Rapid triage of essential items. Distributed printing can produce face guards and swabs locally, bypassing supply chain bottlenecks. 2. Flexible production lines. Manufacturers can quickly pivot to produce medical hardware or scale output by incorporating 3D‑printed parts.

Key insight: 3D printing isn’t a replacement for all manufacturing, but it is invaluable for high‑impact, low‑volume components that enable rapid response.

Markforged’s Initiative

Committed to innovation, we formed a dedicated task force to identify projects that meet three criteria: proven medical value, high impact, and compatibility with a broad range of 3D printers. Our two‑phase plan begins with design, experimentation, and prototyping, then scales validated solutions via our global fleet of cloud‑connected printers.

Targeted problems include:

• Boost testing speed. Producing more nasal swabs to accelerate diagnostics.
• Rapid PPE. Repurposing existing supplies to protect frontline workers during the first wave.
• Durable PPE. Developing robust solutions for subsequent waves.
• Patient support. Designing ventilator components and other critical devices.
• Supply chain optimization. Removing bottlenecks to increase throughput as manufacturers ramp up.

Current Projects (as of March 23, 2020)

Nasal Swabs – Partnering with a Markforged customer to produce swabs for California drive‑through testing sites, enhancing detection and containment.

Face Guards – A design ready for hospitals. We aim to supply 200‑250 units to Massachusetts General Hospital, Brigham and Women’s, and Lahey Health/Beth Israel Deaconess by March 24, 2020, and will release the file to the community for local production.

Seeking Expert Input

We actively consult manufacturers and testing facilities to identify production gaps. While 3D printing cannot match mass‑production volumes, it can accelerate line retooling and deliver critical parts that keep factories operational.

Activating Our Network

With hundreds of industrial printers in our Massachusetts print farm and over 10,000 Markforged printers worldwide, we are the largest industrial 3D‑printing network. We’re coordinating with hospitals and the broader community to deploy solutions where they’re needed most.

How You Can Help

Three ways to contribute:

1. Suggest High‑Impact Projects

If you have a proven design that can address medical shortages, email us at community@markforged.com.

2. Offer Printing Services

Markforged users and the wider additive manufacturing community are invited to share printing capacity once we finalize designs.

3. Spread the Word

Our forthcoming knowledge base will host vetted files, build instructions, and a streamlined workflow for idea submission. Share these resources with your network to amplify impact.

We salute frontline health workers and stand with anyone affected by COVID‑19. Together, through collaboration and technology, we can supply the tools that save lives.