Amazon offers proprietary COVID-19 face shields at cost

Amazon is selling 3D-printed face shields for a price it says is one-third less than all other reusable face shields currently available to frontline workers.

In early March 2020, a group of mechanical design and hardware engineers from the Amazon Prime Air drone division joined a group of 3D printing enthusiasts in Washington who were designing and building open-source face shields by hand. The engineers, in coordination with the open-source group, took the initial design and improved it, including by making it reusable.

Amazon is now mass-producing these face shields and selling them on its site at a cost of $66.25 for a pack of 25 ($2.65 per shield). The e-tailer has also donated 30,000 more face shields than originally anticipated, and plans to donate another 150,000 by the end of 2020.

Amazon has repurposed its manufacturing facilities and is working with outside vendors to produce new face shields as quickly and cost-effectively as possible. Along with reusability, upgrades based on direct feedback from medical professionals included making materials reusable, enhancing a snap feature to keep the shield in-place, reducing sharp edges, thinning the forehead band to reduce pressure on a person’s forehead, and reducing print time.

By producing a detailed, open-sourced design package for both 3D printing and injection molding, Amazon is enabling anyone, whether an individual or large company, to access and manufacture frames. The new design is also approved by the National Institutes of Health (NIH). 

“We have amazing teams creating and building every day,” said Brad Porter, VP robotics, Amazon. “Watching them quickly adapt to the community’s needs during this stressful time and develop a face shield that we’ve heard from medical professionals is one of the best has been such a rewarding experience. We are committed to leveraging our scale for good and putting our ability to innovate quickly into use to support communities.”