Leveraging 3D metal manufacturing to save 40 jobs and create new product line

Situation

In March 2020, pandemic shutdowns paralyzed the trade show industry and Ntension’s work evaporated overnight.  Ntension, a Hermon-based wholesale manufacturer of custom fabric trade show exhibits, considered furloughing its 40 employees. Fortunately, Ntension was able to pivot quickly and use the materials they had on hand to produce facemasks and respirator filtration pods for a local healthcare provider.

Photo credit University of Maine

Maine MEP Solution

Ntension approached Maine MEP’s partner the Advanced Manufacturing Center (AMC) at the University of Maine for assistance testing the materials they had on hand for filtration effectiveness and to develop a mold for half mask filtration pods.

Early on in the pandemic John Belding, Director at the AMC, and his team designed a system to pull particles through material to compare the filtration performance. This system allowed AMC to provide immediate feedback to Ntension and fortunately, the materials that they had access to have a very high filtration rate.  Perfect for mask making and filters for half mask respirators.

After determining the filtration rate of the fabric, AMC was able to assist Ntension with the design and development of a mold to produce replaceable filtration pods for half mask respirators.  Using 3D metal printing technology AMC was able to print a mold quickly and at a low cost.

Results

Ntension has produced more than 700,000 face shields and 8,000 half-mask filtration pods for Northern Light Health. Additionally they have a 2-year contract to produce 6 million masks for the health care facilities; 1.3 million are currently warehoused for distribution.

  • 2-year contract to produce 6 million masks
  • > 700,000 face shields and 8,000 half-mask filtration pods produced
  • 40 employees working throughout the pandemic
  • 2 highly skilled engineers hired from AMC

Pandemic Pivot

“Naturally the trade show industry went into hibernation because of the pandemic,” explained Scott Biehn, Ntension President.  “When the pandemic hit, our projects went to zero. It not only went to zero, but entire shows were cancelling.”

No shows meant no business. But a call from Northern Light Health changed that.

Northern Light Health, a Maine-based healthcare operation that includes ten hospitals, eight nursing homes, and 37 primary care locations, was scrambling to find personal protective equipment (PPE) for staff in the early days of the pandemic.

Northern Light turned to Ntension with hopes that its unique fabrics might be re-purposed quickly into facemasks and filters.  Ntension turned to the University of Maine’s AMC to determine if the fabrics they had would be appropriate for PPE.

The AMC team went to work testing the fabrics.  John Belding explains, “We came up with a testing method that allowed us to pull particles through the mask material.   We can tell exactly what materials worked better than others, and compare them directly with N95 masks. The material that Scott and his team had at Ntension was almost as good as the N95 material.”

With the material approved, the Ntension team quickly began producing facemasks for Northern Light Health employees.  Northern Light also challenged Ntension to assist with creating replaceable exhalation-valve filtration pods for half mask respirators. 

Scott and his team began working on a solution and again approached AMC for assistance.

photo credit University of Maine

 3D Metal Printing

Ntension leveraged UMaine’s Center for Additive Manufacturing of Metals(CAMM) at AMC to create 3D printed metal molds for production of the filtration pods.  3D Metal manufacturing was natural fit for this project.  The mold was inexpensive, quick to develop and produce, and easy to work with.  This innovative technology allowed Ntension to respond quickly to the need for high quality PPE to keep healthcare workers safe and their own 40 employees working.  

Ntension has produced more than 700,000 face shields and 8,000 half-mask filtration pods for Northern Light Health. Additionally they have a 2-year contract to produce 6 million masks for the health care facilities; 1.3 million are currently warehoused for distribution.

“We couldn’t be more proud of this project,” said Biehn. “It is refreshing to know that this past year we were able to satisfy the needs of so many at the medical level, but also satisfy the needs of our labor team and keep everybody working and it just all kind of molded together.”

Ntension is in the early stages of developing a medical product line and has continued to work with AMC on product development and process improvements as it begins to build capacity and pursue U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval for their masks.