A choice lay before engineer Mat Bowtell as he walked out the gates of Toyota’s Altona factory for the last time. He could watch on, helpless, as the local car manufacturing industry fell apart around him, or he could put his skills to better use.

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Bowtell used his redundancy payout to set up a 3D printing facility in a small warehouse on Victoria’s Bass coast, where he began manufacturing free prosthetic hands for children with a disability. Now, as Covid-19 fractures the economy and brings entire industries to their knees, Bowtell’s skills have again found a new purpose.

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Fourteen of his 20 3D printers are now being used to manufacture thousands of face shields for healthcare workers, who are struggling to access personal protective equipment amid widespread shortages. “With 3D printing, we’ve been able to go from making hands to making face shields in a matter of, well, days,” […]

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