VIDEO: TOOLING UP: Get a Grip on Safety with AlphaTec

JASON GHANNY: You know, manufacturing has been an industry where there has been an increase in workers’ safety focus, right? More and more as we continue down the road and, you know, post-pandemic as well. There's even been a stronger focus on that with stricter guidelines and, just stricter regulations that each individual manufacturer wants to uphold for their workers right. In order to have the best workers in the industry, you need to uphold the best safety practices in the industry as well.

Narrator: This video is brought to you by Ansell. Ansell is leading the world to a safer future. If you're looking for real world insights, tips from leading industry experts, the latest trends in products and technology, you've come to the right place. From MSC Industrial Supply, this is Tooling Up.

TONI NEARY: Hello and welcome to Tooling Up. I'm your host, Toni Neary, and I'm so glad that you've joined us here today. Before we get to today's guest, we're going to take care of a little bit of business. So go ahead and click those like and subscribe buttons. That way you'll always get the inside scoop on what's happening in manufacturing, because you'll never miss an episode of Tooling Up.

All right, everybody subscribed? Awesome. Today I'm excited to be talking about next generation chemical protection. And we have an absolute expert in the industry with Jason Ghanny, associate Director of Product Management and Business Development at Ansell. Jason, thanks so much for joining us, and welcome to Tooling Up.

JASON GHANNY: Thank you Toni. Thank you so much for having me. Excited to be here to talk about some of these new and exciting products from Ansell.

TONI NEARY: And I understand, Jason, that both of your brothers are doctors. So how in the world did you end up in manufacturing?

JASON GHANNY: Yeah, absolutely. So when I was younger, you know, the, going into the medical field was the dream of all of our parents, I guess, right? So, my two brothers who, took that dream very seriously and went into it. Me being younger, I was always knew that I was more of a businessman, and and I understood and enjoyed the business world.

So even though I did not go directly into the medical field, I still stayed within the, the, the arena of personal protection, and, and really some of these, these key, things that are really protecting us in the marketplace today. So even though I did not go into the medical field, I still stayed in an adjacent field at the least.

TONI NEARY: And I would have to imagine that looking at 2020 and some of the world events that we witnessed and your knowledge of PPE might have had, might have boosted you up at the dinner table a little bit with some of the conversations that you were having.

JASON GHANNY: Absolutely. You know, you know, during the pandemic, obviously there was such a need for PPE. At that time in my career, I was in the examination glove side of the Ansell business where, there was just needs all across the globe for PPE. So, a word that the world did not, you know, widely recognized before personal protection equipment now is kind of, a definitive word that everyone is seeing as so important.

TONI NEARY: And Ansell just made a pretty significant acquisition in the PPE world with Kimberly-Clark PPE joining the family, right?

JASON GHANNY: That's correct. Yes. That Kimberly-Clark, that acquisition just happened, finalized on July 1st. We're very excited about this acquisition. This will really continue to make our mark in the PPE industry, allowing us to be one of the largest PPE providers in the world today. They have very strong products in their portfolio, in the Kimberly-Clark portfolio.

So we're excited to bring these two portfolios together and really, again, be able to offer our end users and our distribution partners the strongest and widest breadth of hand and body chemical protection that's in the marketplace today.

TONI NEARY: And I think we really didn't see the impact of PPE out in the world until 2020, but it's always been critical in manufacturing. Can you talk a little bit about why PPE and manufacturing, why the development of some of the new products as well?

JASON GHANNY: You know, manufacturing has been an industry where there has been an increase in workers’ safety focus, right? More and more as we continue down the road and, you know, post pandemic as well, there's even been a stronger focus on that with stricter guidelines and, just stricter regulations that each individual manufacturer wants to uphold for their workers right. In order to have the best workers in the industry, you need to uphold the best safety practices in the industry as well. You know, so in that standpoint, it's very critical that in manufacturing that we're number one, being able to assess the risks that they're that they're encountering every single day, right? Their risk can change in a day to day basis.

Their risk yesterday could be different than the risk today. But it's important for them to understand those risks and have the proper PPE to make sure that they're protected.

TONI NEARY: Well, Jason, I have to say, I think the passion and the innovative technology of Ansell first and foremost, I'd like to thank you. My husband is a first responder, so knowing that he's safe because they never know what they're walking into is imperative. So let's talk about this new revolution, the AlphaTec® 53-002 and 53-003 gloves.

Did I get those numbers right?

JASON GHANNY: Yes you did. Yes you did, Toni. Yes. So yeah, these are our new and exciting, exciting products from Ansell and from our from our chemical team here. Again, Toni, like we talked about before, you know, chemical use has been increasing in all of our industries, right? No matter what industry that you're in. And in addition to that, chemical mixtures are also being used.

And users, right? Our customers are being exposed to these dangerous chemicals every single day, right? So with this, we've brought to the market as of July 1^st our newest style, which is the AlphaTec 53-002 and the 003. So there's two styles that are part of this launch. And this style is protection against an extremely broad level of chemicals, of chemical types right. But at the same time also offering comfort, tactility and secondary hazard protection, like heat protection as well. So really offering a strong glove for an end user to be able to put onto their hands and feel safe and protected while at work.

TONI NEARY: All right. So let's talk about the technology because I have to be totally honest. These are so lightweight. This is not what I was expecting when we had originally talked about the level of chemical protection that you have. So there is tactility, but these are really lightweight. I mean these are almost as light as like your standard kitchen rubber gloves for washing dishes.

How did this technology come to, come to fruition?

JASON GHANNY: So first and foremost in the top layer you have that neoprene layer. The neoprene layer is fantastic for chemical protection but also helps for grip. It also helps for tactility right. And this is going to really help the customer feel comfortable and feel, and feel, safe when they're actually using this glove every single day. In the middle, there's a synthetic copolymer coating. That copolymer coating again helps with the tactility, but also helps with the chemical protection.

Along that is the thermoplastic coating. That thermoplastic coating which is on the inside. This is similar to that barrier glove we were talking about before, that plastic coating that was used, when that double gloving situation with that thermoplastic coating is really giving that extreme chemical protection. And then on the bottom layer, you have a donning and doffing layer on the bottom on the 002, so meaning that it is a nice material that's able to stretch onto your hand and go on very smoothly. And then on the 003 there is a nylon inner layer. So this is a supported glove. The 003 is a supported glove with a nylon inner liner. That nylon inner liner helps both with comfort and it really helps with sweat management.

But in addition to that, it also helps, give mechanical and heat protection up to 212°F. So, as you know, in some of these situations, along with chemicals, you're going to have heat exposure as well. So the 53-003 helps with both the chemical exposure and the heat exposure, as well as some mechanical exposure as well.

TONI NEARY: All right. So how are you getting this technology into and onto the right hands? Ignore the dad joke there.

JASON GHANNY: Well first off we need to make sure we're educating our distribution reps, right? This is a new concept and a new technology. So with that, you know, a firm understanding is needed so that we can have strong conversations with the end users to really talk through and represent the benefits this is going to offer to their end users at the end of the day.

So number one is working with our, with our, distribution reps and making sure we're doing that training. Beyond that is making sure that we're getting samples into the marketplace, right? We understand with new technologies, it's very hard to hear someone talk about it or see a picture of it. Getting a sample onto the hand is critical, right?

So at Ansell we're very much committed to any of our new technologies, where a sample is needed that we would like you guys to work very closely with us or any of our reps to make sure that we get a sample into the end user’s hand. In addition to that, we're working to make sure we're putting together some strong marketing activities, so that we can also train and educate the end users on this new technology as well.

TONI NEARY: Jason, I cannot thank you enough for your time. I can't thank you enough for your passion and energy that you've put into making the world a safer place.

JASON GHANNY: Thank you Toni, I really appreciate the time and excited to work closely with MSC on this launch.

TONI NEARY: It was so great hanging out with Jason today, and if you enjoyed our conversation as much as I did, and you want to make sure that you see all of our other discussions just like this one, please subscribe to our channel. To find out more about the Ansell Alphatec 53-002 and 003 go to www.mscdirect.com/products/nextgen. Thanks so much and we'll see you next time on Tooling Up.

Narrator: Want more insights and ideas to improve the efficiency and productivity of your operations? Check out the Tooling Up Video playlist to hear tips that can take your company to the next level, and subscribe to our channel so you won't miss out.