A hundred workers in a factory of the automotive company Renault in Valladolid (Spain) He has been with the company closed for a week in the middle of the emergency unleashed in his country by the coronavirus but without stopping working.
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Employees have launched a voluntary initiative in which, in just five days, they have manufactured almost 2,000 protective masks in 3D printers that they have donated to hospitals and nursing homes in their region to protect those who are battling the virus.
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“Until yesterday we had 1,200 and today we have made another 700,” Alicia Castreño, who works in Renault’s Human Resources department in Valladolid, explains to Univision News.
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The volunteers have the help of the Civil Guard and the National Police who collect the masks in the workers’ houses with 3D printers and take them to the health centers and nursing homes that have requested them through the regional government.
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After seeing a similar initiative in Italy, Castreño contacted five of his colleagues from the Renault engine factory in Valladolid and asked them if they could manufacture protective visors to fill the lack of resources in health centers and nursing homes in the face of the pandemic of coronavirus that is especially hitting some European countries like Spain.
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In less than a week, 120 volunteer workers have already joined their network, they have launched a financing project through donations for which they have received about 20,000 euros (about $ 21,500) and have obtained the support of the company that It has given them industrial 3D printers and materials with which they have tripled their production capacity.
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In addition, other Renault factories in Spain and Europe have joined the initiative and are producing masks and are also participating in a nationwide project to manufacture respirators to donate to hospitals, which is still waiting to obtain the necessary permits.
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According to Castreño, among the volunteers there are engineers, operators and maintenance personnel. Depending on their knowledge, some are dedicated to prototype design, others to manufacturing, and others to coordination of production and logistics.
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“With the factory stopped, this keeps you active, your head busy, and you feel like you’re contributing to something good,” says the Renault worker. “At times like these when we are all locked up at home it is important to know that you are contributing something.”
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