Amazon To Manufacture Face Shields And Sell Them At Cost

Over the next few weeks, Amazon Inc. AMZN will be selling reusable face shields at cost, first to medical professionals and later to all customers.

What Happened

Writing on the company’s “dayone” blog, Brad Porter, Amazon’s Vice President, and Distinguished Engineer Robotics said the company had already donated 10,000 face shields in the United States and was on “track” to deliver another 20,000.

Amazon now plans to sell these shields at cost, to meet the “growing requests from medical professionals across the country.” The e-commerce giant is confident in its ability to mass-produce and list the masks at almost a third the cost of the other reusable shields currently available. 

Why It Matters

The United States is facing a shortage of personal protective equipment (PPE), such as face shields.

According to Porter, the drone engineers at Amazon developed the shield design in the span of a week, improving the product’s wearability.

Amazon’s face shield design is based on a face shield developed by an open-source 3D printing community, based at Washington State University.

Other companies are leveraging their manufacturing prowess to make face shields as well. Apple Inc. AAPL announced last month that it would make 1 million face shields each week for healthcare workers.

Price Action

Amazon shares traded 0.16% lower at $2,385 in the after-hours session on Thursday. The shares had closed the regular session 0.88% higher at $2,388.85.

Image Credit: Courtesy of Amazon.