REPORT
Wear a mask, or not, when leaving your house? The debate has been revived by the position of the Academy of Medicine which ensures that the mask protects from the virus in the air. In Roubaix (North), Dagoma, a company specializing in 3D printing, has started manufacturing plastic visors for caregivers who deal with coronavirus on a daily basis. Their goal: to produce 20,000 per week.
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About 1h30 to make a visor
"We have a plastic part that makes a little headband," explains Florent Vanhoeve, an employee at Dagoma. On this basis, this one inserts a plastic film in format 14. "It will come to position itself in front of your face, and it will protect you from projections that you may have".
In the factory, a former industrial building, the noise of 3D printers - around 600 - is in full swing. The machines run 20 hours a day. To make a single visor, it takes about an hour and a half.
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"We try to meet the needs of the nursing staff"
Sold at cost price, or two euros, these plastic visors are delivered to hospitals, clinics, pharmacies, nursing homes ... The system is not approved, but whatever, caregivers need to protect themselves. "We are trying to meet the needs of the nursing staff, a bit urgently," says Florent Vanhoeve. "They, their answer, is to tell us that it's better than nothing".
A total of twenty employees take turns in this start-up recently placed in receivership. All, without exception, agreed to come back to help.
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