04 & 05 November 2025
Halls 1, 2, 4 & 6, IFEMA, Madrid
05 & 06 November 2025
Halls 8 & 10, IFEMA, Madrid
04 & 05 November 2025
Halls 1, 2, 4 & 6, IFEMA, Madrid
05 & 06 November 2025
Halls 8 & 10, IFEMA, Madrid
April 16, 2020.— Visors, masks, and even respirators—nothing can resist additive manufacturing and 3D printing, which are currently providing highly effective support to the healthcare sector in its fight against COVID-19. Over the past few weeks, the importance of additive manufacturing has become clearly evident, emerging as a fast, adaptable, and highly useful solution to addressing the scarcity of resources. Thus, thanks to the various initiatives emerging around 3D printing, it has been possible to increase the production of medical supplies on demand and locally, with the added benefit of freeing Spain from its dependence on imports from other countries.
Several companies linked to the industrial sector are offering technological solutions to help control the epidemic. Many of them will be present at the 13th edition of MetalMadrid and Composites Spain, which will be held at IFEMA on September 30 and October 1, where professional visitors (around 13,000 at the last edition) will be able to witness the most cutting-edge and surprising proposals.
A good example of this is Sicnova, a company specializing in the application of additive manufacturing and 3D scanning for industrial sectors such as aerospace, architecture, automotive, medicine, education, electronics, and machining. It is acting as a logistics operator for a project aimed at enabling anyone with a 3D printer at home to manufacture medical accessories, primarily masks and visors. To this end, it launched a campaign on March 29th that, in less than 24 hours, received 2,000 collaboration requests from individuals willing to produce medical supplies with its printers.
Meanwhile, the Solitium Group, another major exhibitor at MetalMadrid and Composites Spain, has put its experts and engineers to work to meet the demands coming from various hospitals. Miguel Ángel Mora, the engineer responsible for the Group’s 3D Engineering Services, states that they have so far managed to manufacture 240 support visors for protective screens per day: “This is a part without regulatory commitments, and we can produce it in both polyamide and other materials,” he emphasizes.
Codesol is another of the industrial component companies that will be part of MetalMadrid and Composites Spain and has joined the fight against COVID-19. In this case, it is doing so through the Coronavirus Makers community, a team of online volunteers who work tirelessly to offer practical solutions to help the healthcare sector. In this way, Codesol is collaborating in the supply of face shields and hands-free door openers, as they are extremely useful tools for preventing contagion. It has a production capacity of 9 face shields and 5 hands-free door openers per day. All of these are primarily intended for local hospitals and health centers, and its intention is to begin distributing them to nursing homes as well.
For its part, the Salesianos de Atocha School in Madrid, whose vocational training students are frequent visitors to MetalMadrid, is participating in a project belonging to the Arganzuela district neighborhood group, through which they produce protective face shields using 3D printers. In total, they have 45 machines, some from other public and private schools in Madrid, which, as of April 9, allowed them to manufacture more than 2,400 protective face shields, produced in 11-hour shifts, every day of the week. They have also created 60 emergency valves for hospital ventilators. “Each protective face shield requires around two and a half hours to manufacture. However, producing a valve for a ventilator takes almost six hours,” says José Luis Esquivias López, coordinator of the Business School at the Salesianos de Atocha School.
The upcoming edition of MetalMadrid and Composites Spain will present industry professionals with the most cutting-edge and innovative offerings in Additive Manufacturing, with companies dedicated solely to Industry 4.0. One of the fair’s main attractions will be the dissemination of these companies’ knowledge, derived from their experience during the crisis. It will undoubtedly provide a space for sharing good practices and success stories related to additive manufacturing and 3D printing, as a rapid and efficient response in the relentless fight against COVID-19.
Easyfairs: First private trade fair organizer in Spain and Portugal
MetalMadrid is a trade fair belonging to the Easyfairs group, a Belgian multinational headquartered in Brussels that creates and implements events in 17 countries, showcasing the latest advances and trends, in line with its motto “Visit the future.”
It currently organizes 220 events, manages 10 exhibition venues in Belgium, the Netherlands, and Sweden, and employs more than 750 people. In the 2018-2019 fiscal year, it generated revenues exceeding €170 million.
The group began operating in Spain and Portugal in 2007, becoming the leading private organizer in both countries. Its trade shows in Spain have established themselves as essential meeting points in different sectors: MetalMadrid, for industrial innovation; Empack, for packaging, labeling, brand packaging, and POS; Logistics & Distribution, a leading trade fair for intralogistics, warehousing, automation, digitalization, and handling; and Pump & Valves and Maintenance, for the industrial sector.
In 2018, Easyfairs was named Best Company of the Year in Belgium, and in 2019, “Best Managed Company” by Deloitte. It currently ranks 18th on the list of the best event management companies in the world.
For more information, visit: www.metalmadrid.com | www.compositesspain.es
Press Office Contact:
Cristina Martínez cristina.martinez@asecom.es 676 32 72 60
