There was an increase in the production of gloves during the COVID-19 pandemic. This trend is expected to continue in the coming years because of the new variants of the virus that keep on emerging.
This has been a success story for the glove manufacturing industry. It’s a rewarding feeling to be able to serve millions of people during a global pandemic. Let’s take a deeper sight at it – its definition, what they produce, the processes, and more.
Pandemic Trend For Glove Manufacturing
Because of the increase in demand for disposable medical gloves during the pandemic, the demand exceeded the supply. The shortage of medical disposable gloves became another issue that people have to fight.
The World Health Organization foresaw an increase in production by 40% for the glove manufacturing industry. According to Research and Markets, this is the estimated number of products needed to meet the demand.
This demand comes with business opportunities, such as becoming an exam gloves manufacturer. This is a very lucrative industry, especially since this is expected to reach 14.03 billion dollars by the end of 2027. It’s a significant increase from 5.95 billion dollars in 2019.
Glove Manufacturing Defined
Glove manufacturing is not a simple industry but a complex one. It’s also affected by environmental problems, local and international regulations, workforce issues, and prices of raw materials.
We can say that these issues can be a part of an optimization problem. However, some of these issues can be eased via technical changes. Particularly, the field of control engineering can help alleviate these.
Control is crucial in any manufacturing industry. A disposable plastic syringe manufacturing business is an example where control is crucial. The volume of silicone coating must precisely be controlled by a team to attain accuracy.
The dynamic of modeling systems and controller design is at the heart of control engineering. Thus, it’s time to consider its opportunities.
Glove Manufacturing Process
According to Wahid (1998), here are some key processes in manufacturing gloves. The steps vary from plant to plant.
Former Cleaning – In this process, the glove formers are dipped to be cleaned into an acid bath. Then, they are rinsed with clean water.
Next, the formers are dipped into an alkaline bath. This is to neutralize the acid before rinsing it in clean water. Finally, the formers are subjected to brushing.
Coagulant Dipping – There is a coagulant tank where the glove formers are to be dipped. Then, they will be dried in an oven. Finally, they will be cooled.
Latex Dipping – This time, the glove formers are submerged in a latex tank.
Beading – To prevent the deterioration of rubber molecules, there are several chemicals to be added during this process. There are environmental conditions and you have to aid the vulcanization process.
Leaching – This is the process where the gloves are leached in hot water so the unwanted residual chemicals will be washed away. The same goes for the proteins sticking to the gloves.
There are pre-leaching and post-leaching processes. This occurs before and after the vulcanization process.
Drying and Vulcanization – The gloves are dried in ovens. During the vulcanization process, the polymer chains are cross-linked with sulfur to improve elasticity and tensile strength. The glove formers are also dried several times throughout the process.
Powdering – There is a chance that the gloves will stick together. To prevent this from happening, corn starch powder is added. However, many gloves are not powdered during the process to avoid skin allergy problems for future users.
Stripping – The gloves are removed from the formers. They are inspected for quality control. Finally, they are sent out for packaging.
Business Opportunities
Given the excellent forecast, it’s likely that businessmen can invest in the glove manufacturing business today. That’s how big the industry offers you.
Let’s look at the opportunity by knowing about the target consumers. Before investing in any big businesses, as big as becoming a PTFE tube manufacturer, check also about the raw materials, manpower, and machinery requirements:
Target Consumers – Consider your target consumers first. The materials and usability of gloves made an impact on any industrial market, making them the target consumers.
You may consider metal fabrication, automotive industry, chemical industry, food processing industry, healthcare industry, and cleaning industry.
Raw Materials – Here’s an idea of the raw materials required to start your glove-making business. Make sure to source out chrome-tanned split leather, thread, dyes, rubber, and latex.
Prepare some measure scales with sizes 14”, 16”, and 18. These are common sizes. Then, consider having some packing materials like that of glass soda bottles bulk business do.
Machinery – It’s required for you to have a flatbed single needle industrial sewing machine, dyers, material fabrication machinery, coolers, and boilers.
Manpower – This may vary per industry. You can start with 6 unskilled workers, 5 stitchers, 3 clickers, 5 salesmen, 1 accountant, and 1 production manager.
Conclusion
Not everyone had seen the growing opportunities in the glove manufacturing industry until the pandemic arose. Gloves are not only used in the healthcare industry but in the food industry too. It’s a complex industry catering to all other industries because of product usage.
It has processes that can vary from one industry to another. Moreover, there is continuous growth in business opportunities that any businessman can explore.