From five glove SKUs to two: How YES simplified PPE | Manufacturing

With five cut-resistant glove styles in circulation across three facilities, YES saw an opportunity to simplify its hand safety program while improving fit, durability, and protection for its workforce. The challenge was finding a solution that could meet the needs of diverse employees and demanding work environments without compromising performance.

The challenge: Five different glove options with no durability

Across its three facilities, YES was using five different competitor gloves with varying levels of cut resistance ranging from ANSI/ISEA 105 level A4 - A7. Despite the number of glove options available, the gloves were not meeting workers’ needs.

Fit and dexterity were the biggest issues. The gloves didn’t fit well for a lot of the workforce, especially smaller-handed female employees, who ended up with gloves too bulky or too loose to do detailed work safely. Some pulled them off for the tasks that needed precision, leaving their hands unprotected at exactly the wrong moment. Others kept them on and fought them all shift.

Durability was another big problem. Employees worked with sheet metal all day, fabricating generator enclosures and power packages for data centers, job sites, and industrial and mining operations. The gloves broke down fast in harsh conditions, which meant constant replacements, rising costs, and gaps in protection whenever a worn-out glove was still in use.

On top of all that, the facilities saw three to five hand injuries a month. YES's EHS team needed a consolidated glove program to better fit the needs of their team.

The solution: A trial tested against job functions

After trialing a competitive cut level A9 glove to help solve the problem, YES started looking for another A9 option that was more dexterous and irritant-free. They brought the challenge to their distributor – a HexArmor® partner, and that conversation opened the door to a bigger question: could HexArmor® solve for more than just one glove, and help Yancey simplify hand protection across all three facilities?

To find out, HexArmor® ran a two-week wear trial featuring the Helix® 3062 and Helix® 3062IMP. Employees put the gloves to work across their normal job functions, giving the EHS team a real comparison of durability, comfort, fit, and dexterity against the gloves they had been using.

The 3062IMP came out on top for general-purpose work. It held up better, moved better, and offered a better fit across the workforce, including smaller-handed employees who previously struggled to find the right size.

Welding applications required a different approach. YES had been using several different welding glove options, but the team was particularly interested in finding one that could provide A9 cut protection – something they weren’t finding in many welding gloves on the market. After testing the HeatArmor® 5056IMP, the glove delivered the protection and durability they were looking for, earning its place as the standardized option for the welding division.

The results: Less complexity, better protection, and 0 recordables

The trial gave YES the data and worker buy-in it needed to move forward with a standardized glove program across all three facilities:

• Consolidated five glove SKUs down to two primary solutions: the Helix® Series 3062IMP for general-purpose work and the HeatArmor® 5056IMP for welding
• Reduced hand injuries from an average of three to five per month to zero following implementation
• Improved fit and comfort across the workforce, including employees who had previously struggled to find properly fitting gloves
• Reduced glove failures with more durable options built for demanding sheet metal and fabrication work
• Installed the 3062IMP in 11 PPE vending machines, with three additional machines planned across the remaining facilities
• Created opportunities for ongoing cost savings through fewer SKUs, simpler inventory management, and longer glove life

For YES, consolidating their glove lineup helped build a hand protection program that was simple enough to manage and strong enough to trust – reducing monthly hand injuries to zero and creating a program that can scale as all three facilities continue to grow.