Mill upgrades protection, saves close to 70% on PPE spend | Pulp & paper

From 2017-2018, a large, 900+ person, consumer products mill that produces retail bath tissue, paper towels, and bleached paperboard used by consumers across the country, called on HexArmor® with a multi-front challenge: to help the mill increase glove protection levels while also finding ways to reduce overall spend.

The challenge

Multiple departments across the mill were experiencing problems with their hand protection program that had been in place for multiple years. Purchasing was looking to evaluate PPE as a potential area to reduce cost, safety needed to ensure that their people were in the correct levels of protection, and employees had to have a product(s) that would allow them to perform their jobs safely and effectively.

• Multiple glove styles with different protection levels being used – safety risk if employee selected the wrong glove for application
• Identifying the right balance of protection and dexterity to avoid changing gloves or having employees carry multiple pair
• Overall spend on hand protection was not in line with the budget - a result of carrying redundant products, low visibility into cost-in-use, and an out-of-date offering

The solution

During initial conversations around the existing protocol and desired potential outcomes, the HexArmor® representative initiated a site assessment to understand some of these issues first-hand.

After multiple user trials with various glove options, the unanimous decision from the mill was to move from carrying multiple glove styles to just one: the HexArmor® Helix® 2076.

The 2076 is a seamless knit glove with level A6 cut protection, making it well-suited for general use, as well as higher-risk applications like slitter changes, using cutters, and more.

The result

HexArmor® was able to deliver on the initial challenge of putting this mill’s employees in a higher level of protection at an overall cost saving to the business. This was a credit to the collaborative participation among different stakeholder groups and their desire to provide a better, safer workplace for their employees.

• Reduced from three seamless cut-resistant gloves to ONE HexArmor® glove for general use as well as higher risk applications like slitter changes, using cutters
• Increased protection levels across the mill from cut A2-A4/puncture 3 to A6/puncture 5 with the 2076
• Estimated savings of $52K from the previous year (70% reduction in spend)

Learn more about Helix® 2076 safety gloves