I
What is BIOVES product?
Our product is a nitrile medical glove that serves as a barrier protection that acts bilaterally – it protects both the wearer of the glove and the surface being touched.
There is no single universally available polymer formulation on the market that can be used, as the formulations used by current manufacturers are covered by company secrecy.
In order to start production, it is necessary to create your own formulation. In our case, the barrier material from which the gloves will be made is being developed by the University of Silesia under the “Innovation Vouchers for SMEs” project.
The recipe we have designed assumes that the product will be biodegradable to an extent not seen before in the industry, and the production process itself will be carried out in the spirit of zero waste.
II
Examples of usage
Medical gloves are not only used in many professions, but are also increasingly used for private use in the home or garden.
Providing protection not only for the glove wearer, but also for the patient or customer, every healthcare professional uses gloves for practically all their daily activities. The same applies to laboratories, hairdressers, beauticians, nursing home carers, physiotherapists, etc. The current pandemic situation has increased the demand for this product many times over, as even companies that did not normally use this product have had to implement it into their procedures in order to continue their business.
Depending on the size of the medical establishment, glove consumption reaches up to several thousand packs of gloves per month. In service companies and manufacturing firms, depending on their size and industry, consumption ranges from several dozen to several thousand packs per month.
III
Intellectual property (patents, trademarks)
Upon completion of work on a unique formulation of the barrier material with confirmed physicochemical and performance parameters enabling use in the medical sector, it will be applied for a patent.
The material will then be used in the production of medical gloves, and subsequently for other related applications.
The elastomeric material in question is being developed on our behalf by the Institute of Materials Engineering of the Faculty of Science and Technology at the University of Silesia.
In addition, several incidental intellectual properties will be created, i.e. the design of a production line, the design of a factory, and a trademark – a brand of medical gloves.
IV
The innovation that BIOVES brings to the market and why it is better than other ones
The innovation that our product brings lies in the production process itself. The material from which the gloves will be made will be biodegradable, and the entire production process will be designed in the spirit of zero waste. In the production process, we will strive to use raw materials in a rational manner, allowing for the production of a high-quality product with optimal use of raw materials. This will be possible thanks to automation of the production process and scalability of the factory. At the same time, we will apply recycling and cycling of solvents or waste products. The final product will meet the requirements and standards appropriate for gloves and high-risk procedures, however, the research proposed in the project is aimed at developing an innovative formulation and, consequently, producing a final product enriched with greater tactile sensitivity and manual dexterity, which are desirable features in the medical sector.
The production plan is to locate the manufacturing process in a medium sized factory, which, given the scale of the project, will optimise investment costs. Locating the factory in Poland will minimise logistics costs, thus gaining a market advantage in terms of speed of delivery and order processing, but also allowing for price competition.
V
What is the market advantage?
The key features of the product, which do not result from its physical properties but constitute an advantage over products available on the market, are:
– price – in view of the restriction of the flow of personal protective equipment from Asian countries, glove prices have increased by about 150% in a few months. It is anticipated that the current price level is the new benchmark for future increases, regardless of the development of the pandemic. Prices will not fall, but will continue to rise in line with the pre-pandemic trend to date.
– security / continuity and timeliness of supply – there is currently no production of medical gloves in the European Union in sufficient quantities to meet the needs of European countries. The only factory producing medical gloves is in Portugal – mainly for the domestic market. Polish manufacturers also produce their products exclusively in Asia. For example, Poland’s largest manufacturer, Mercator Medical S.A., has a factory in Thailand, which produce up to 50% of the gloves sold by the company on international markets. The company orders the remaining 50% from external Asian manufacturers. Other Polish manufacturers, such as Zarys Sp. z o.o., Doman Andrzej Domański, Abena Polska Sp. z o.o. and Semper Sp. z o.o. do not have their own factories and the entire production is manufactured under OEM agreements in China, Malaysia, Vietnam and Thailand.
– flexibility – one of the key guidelines of the research process is the development of such a formula which, in contrast to large and expensive Asian factories, can also be produced in small and medium series production.
VI
Why is now a good time to enter the market?
Consumption of medical gloves is constantly rising worldwide, as can be seen in the above-mentioned statistics; moreover, a crisis has emerged in the availability of protective measures and medical equipment of primary need. Conclusions that can be drawn from the situation during COVID-19 and the constantly growing demand are obvious – it is necessary to establish new factories, but not OEMs, who already use the capacities of the largest manufacturers. The current situation determines the start of work on the production independence of personal protective equipment, including medical gloves, because the continuous maintenance of stock levels in a crisis situation does not meet the needs generated in a given period anyway – as shown by the situation in the second quarter of 2020, not to mention the skyrocketing prices. In-house production on site, independent of foreign capital, will keep medical facilities supplied at the right level.
In addition – the increased use of disposable personal protective equipment (masks and gloves) has caused unprecedented pollution of ocean waters. During the annual International Coastal Cleanup (removing waste from oceans and waterways), 62,210 pieces of PPE were collected in September 2020 alone. Developing a fully biodegradable glove is therefore crucial in the fight against pollution of the planet.
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