Amway’s Rapid Prototyping Team Building Frames for Face Shields

Amway’s newly organized Rapid Prototyping Team has taken on an initiative related to the COVID-19 pandemic: building frames for face shields.

Rapid Prototyping Team Manager Randy Betz, along Scott Anderson and Kenny Ly, saw what was happening in the local health care community and offered to help. Betz reached out to key partners in Corporate Social Responsibility, Legal and Durables to help create a way for Amway to address the critical need for medical supplies.

The Amway team partnered with Velocity Research, a local engineering firm, to design and build frames for face shields, a vital part of any health care worker’s personal protective equipment (PPE).

“I’m so proud of what we do at Amway,” said Betz. “No one’s ever gone through anything like this, and we have the right people with the right equipment in the right place to do the best job we can for our community. You never know, one of us or a family member could be in a hospital bed, so we are honored to volunteer talent and resources to help.”

The Amway team went from face shield frame ideation at noon last Thursday, to producing the initial batch of frames by 2 p.m. the same day. They personally delivered the first 100 frames to Velocity Research on Saturday to ensure assembly operations could begin as quickly as possible.

“I’m so proud of what we do at Amway,” said Betz. “No one’s ever gone through anything like this, and we have the right people with the right equipment in the right place to do the best job we can for our community.

An additional 200 face shield frames have been delivered since Saturday, with another 100 on the way. In total, the team plans to build/print about 600 frames.

The team has found a new open-sourced face shield design that will allow them to laser cut all components and build complete face shields in-house. They are also working to understand how Amway could assist with ventilator support and finding additional ways to spend their strength on others.