2016 Global Hand Protection Company of the Year Award

2016 Global Hand Protection
Company of theYear Award

BEST PRACTICES RESEARCH
© Frost & Sullivan 2017 2 “We Accelerate Growth”
Contents
Background and Company Performance ........................................................................3
Industry Challenges..............................................................................................3
Visionary Innovation & Performance and Customer Impact........................................4
Conclusion...........................................................................................................9
Significance of Company of the Year...........................................................................10
Understanding Company of the Year...........................................................................10
Key Benchmarking Criteria ..................................................................................11
Best Practice Award Analysis for Ansell .......................................................................11
Decision Support Scorecard .................................................................................11
Visionary Innovation & Performance .....................................................................11
Customer Impact ...............................................................................................12
Decision Support Matrix ......................................................................................13
The Intersection between 360-Degree Research and Best Practices Awards.....................14
Research Methodology ........................................................................................14
Best Practices Recognition: 10 Steps to Researching, Identifying, and Recognizing Best
Practices .................................................................................................................15
About Frost & Sullivan ..............................................................................................16

Background and Company Performance
Industry Challenges
The global hand protection market is undergoing transformation on multiple fronts
primarily due to changing customer preferences, a dynamic regulatory landscape, and the
increasing impact of private labels and regional participants. The regulatory landscape
varies in line with the safety consciousness in specific regions/countries. Due to high
safety standards in Western Europe and North America, regulations are strict and
stringently enforced by governing bodies. For example, a new EN 388 standard was
introduced in early 2016 in Europe. This has already resulted in manufacturers showcasing
their product differentiation, offering superior performance that is compliant with the new
regulation.
Key decision-making parameters and customer preferences widely vary in different
regions. For example, Western European countries, such as Sweden, Norway, Germany,
and Austria, focus on quality, comfort, and durability, whereas Italy and Spain consider
price to be a deciding factor. Similarly, in emerging economies, such as China, India, and,
ASEAN countries, end-user awareness is low. Therefore, preference towards sophisticated
features is limited and price is a major determining parameter for customers. Regionally,
strong participants and private labels also play a significant role in these markets.
Therefore, manufacturers are compelled to offer tailor-made products for different regions
to stay ahead of competition and achieve a global footprint. Despite these challenges,
robust growth in manufacturing, construction, and other key industry verticals is ensuring
that demand for hand protection grows globally.
Hand protection solutions are used across a number of applications in various industry
verticals, such as oil and gas, construction, and manufacturing. Because the properties
and features required in these industries vary significantly, manufacturers are expected to
offer industry-/application-specific solutions that present additional value to customers in
terms of performance. In turn, this significantly boosts end-user efficiency and
productivity. Therefore, manufacturers have to offer a comprehensive product portfolio
that can meet and exceed the needs arising from varied job functions.
Multi-functionality is a key trend that has been impacting the hand protection market
globally. Manufacturers; thus, need to embrace this transition and provide solutions that
protect workers from a variety of hazards, and differentiate themselves from competition.
Customer preference, especially among multinational corporations, is increasing for
reliable manufacturers with globally strong reputations that can cater to all hand
protection needs. Furthermore, multinational companies are seeking to standardize their
hand protection needs across all manufacturing facilities in different parts of the world
because this enables them to maintain a consistent and safe work environment that can
enhance productivity and simultaneously decrease cost of production.

Visionary Innovation & Performance and Customer Impact
Unmet Needs
Since its inception in 1905, Ansell has gained a reputation as a global leader in protection
solutions, particularly in the hand protection market with its innovative, high-performing
solutions. With worldwide operations spanning across North America, Latin
America/Caribbean, EMEA and Asia, Ansell has uniquely positioned itself as a global
manufacturer with 19 manufacturing plants spread across all regions. Ansell’s global
footprint is considered unique in the hand protection market and has enabled it to
consistently meet the needs of multinational companies covering various regions.
Furthermore, the company’s regulatory competencies help swiftly address challenges
presented by the dynamic regulatory landscape globally.
Ansell is also strongly positioned by virtue of its distinct product offerings across various
industry verticals, such as machinery and equipment, metal fabrication, oil, gas and
mining, transportation, chemical, life sciences, food, electronics, utilities, automotive and
OEM, first responder, acute care hospitals, and dentistry and veterinary. In parallel, Ansell
also offers tailor-made customized solutions for specific
industry requirements. The company developed the
ActivArmr®
product line to cater to specific needs of the
oil, gas, mining and utilities industries. The ActivArmr®
97-
120 is testament to its unique offering in the oil and gas
industry as it is a multi-functional glove that is highly
repellant to oil and also offers superior impact, abrasion,
and cut resistance. Unlike its competition, the product
offers superior dexterity during oil/liquid handling; thus,
enhancing productivity without compromising on
protection from critical injuries. In this way, Ansell
effectively countered competition from regionally-strong
participants, as well as private labels, because of its ability
to quickly react to market dynamics across various
industry verticals.
Among all Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) products, private-label products have had
significantly higher influence on the hand protection market. This necessitates constant
efforts on the part of leading manufacturers to focus on product development and
innovation to achieve a wider customer base. Ansell has been able to acquire unique
positioning in the marketplace, particularly due to its innovation in yarns, as well as
technologies enabling it to develop a unique product development capability. For example,
the INTERCEPT™
cut-resistant technology has facilitated the company to successfully build
an extensive portfolio of products in the cut-resistant segment.

Blue Ocean Strategy®
Ansell has consistently focused on creating new avenues of growth to maintain its global
market leadership position. By offering sophisticated
products with unmatched performance in spite of
increasing price pressures from private-label products, the
company has earned a strong reputation in both North
America and EMEA. Unlike its peers, Ansell has been
significantly focused on enhancing its robotics and
automation capabilities, especially for quality assurance
and increasing productivity. A testament to this is the
Centre of Excellence, which was established in early 2015,
with the primary objective of developing automation
solutions using robotics to enhance operational efficiency
and product quality. This has empowered the company to
boost its productivity savings by approximately 20% and
ensure superior product quality. These initiatives truly
showcase Ansell’s commitment to offering solutions with
unmatched performance and; thereby, assuring customers of a higher return on
investment on its products.
Furthermore, to tap into the high growth potential seen in emerging Asian and Latin
American markets, Ansell is offering products for these markets at competitive price
points. This effectively addresses inherent high customer price sensitivity present in these
regions. Such unique competencies have allowed the company to successfully gain market
share, even in a highly price-sensitive market saturated with low-cost products.
With respect to multi-functional products, Ansell has consistently been a pioneer in
offering additional value-added features to suit the changing needs of various industries.
The company has also expanded its product development capabilities to offer innovative
solutions in the cut-resistant segment. For example, the company added eight new
products for cut-resistance in its highly-reputed HyFlex®
product line in 2015. In addition,
Ansell has developed an array of products combining cut-resistance (ANSI level 2 to 5)
with ancillary features for specific industry requirements, such as impact resistance,
oil/liquid repellence and also highly dexterous chemical resistant disposable gloves.
Ansell’s ability to foresee disruptive trends and proactively push product development to
address future customer needs reinforces its leadership position in the global hand
protection market.
Product Performance
In a competitive market characterized by numerous product choices from local and
regional vendors, Ansell has strategically utilized its first-mover advantage and maintained
price-performance parity across its entire product line. Safety consciousness has been

increasing across all industry verticals, leading to increasing adoption of compliant
products that assist in maintaining a safe working environment. Unlike its competition,
Ansell has positioned itself as a one-stop solution provider for all hand protection needs
and prides itself with a range of its patented technologies. AQUADRI®
, a moisture
management technology; INTERCEPT™
, a cut-resistance technology; ZONZ™
, a comfort fit
technology; ANSELL Grip™, a technology offering enhanced grip in oily and wet
conditions; RIPEL™
, a liquid-repellant technology; FORTIX™
, an abrasion-resistance
technology; and ERGOFORM™, an ergonomic design technology -- all enable Ansell to
offer highly differentiated products with unmatched performance and when compared to
its competitors. These technologies have also helped Ansell address specific challenges in
the hand protection market.
Ansell’s commitment to offering multi-functional products with unmatched performance is
evident from its recent product launches, the HyFlex®
11-818 and HyFlex®
11-840. These
products were specifically developed for the manufacturing industries because they offer
ANSI Level 4 and 5 protection, while maintaining comfort, breathability, tactility and grip.
Commercially-available nitrile dip gloves generally seldom offer robust abrasion
resistance. However, Ansell has gained recognition for these unique products because they
offer enhanced abrasion and cut-resistance in a nitrile dip glove. This was made possible
because of its distinctive FORTIX™
nitrile formulation.
Customer Ownership Experience
Ansell strives to instill ownership pride among customers by
providing high-quality hand protection products that surpass
expectations. The company boasts more than a dozen highly
sophisticated research and development (R&D) facilities in the
United States and Sri Lanka that drive its passion for
innovation. The presence of such state-of-the-art facilities has
helped Ansell to not only secure first-to-market advantage in
the hand protection market, but also offer quick turnarounds
(at times as short as four weeks). Ansell also leverages its rich
data source collected over 30 years through the Ansell Guardian®
program to thoroughly
understand and evaluate in-situ challenges, enabling the company to proactively develop
solutions that aptly meet the required protection levels. In fact, Ansell Guardian®
has
ensured approximately 70% conversion rate with customers across all industries.
Furthermore, all new product development projects are carried out with an industry
partner(s) as part of its rigorous testing protocol, which allows the company to fully
understand and evaluate the product in in-situ conditions to ensure unparalleled
performance.
Comfort and fit are considered key parameters that increase productivity, dexterity, and
compliance in the hand protection market. Ansell ensures enhanced comfort and fit by
incorporating its patented technologies during product development. The company has

also developed a number of advanced formulations, such as latex-free, accelerator-free,
and allergy-free products, and now a chemical resistant protection in the single use
segment. These offerings assist its customers in maintaining a safe working environment
as these initiatives significantly improve safety compliance.
Growth Potential
Distributors play a pivotal role in the hand protection market globally. Therefore, Ansell
consistently strives to engage in successful partnerships with distributors to gain
competitive advantage and enhance brand visibility. For example, Ansell partnered with
Grainger in 2015, which enabled Ansell to approximately double its market share with the
company. Furthermore, the company has also partnered with key industry distributors in
Europe and Australia. Such partnerships guarantee that the needs of all customer
segments are met. Ansell’s global footprint, coupled with its vast industry coverage, is
likely to spur future growth. Understanding the increasing importance of eCommerce,
Ansell consistently strives to offer products on popular online retail platforms. For
instance, the company has partnered with eCommerce giant Amazon to strengthen its
presence to consumers.
Ansell’s Guardian®
program, which defines immediately actionable business performance
improvements in safety, cost and productivity, has helped the company effectively meet
and exceed customer and industry demands proactively. These strategies will enable the
company to organically grow significantly in the global hand protection market.
Not only has the company focused on organic growth opportunities, it has also made several
strategic acquisitions, such as BarrierSafe Solutions and Hands International in 2014,
Hércules Equipamentos de Proteção Ltda and Midas Corporation in 2013, Comasec SAS and
Trelleborg Protective Products in 2012, and Sandel Medical Industries in 2011. These
acquisitions supported the company in widening its customer base and expertise, and
spurring growth.
Brand Equity
Ansell has undertaken numerous initiatives to remain at the forefront of the global hand
protection market in terms of sales, product development, product innovation, and
offering value-added services to its customers. The company’s commitment and focus on
innovation is evident as it has doubled the number of new products developed in the last
7-8 years. As a result, Ansell has not only consistently developed hand protection products
for industry-specific challenges, but also diversified its offering into protective body
solutions, including full range of chemical and splash protection suits, coveralls, hoods,
vests, aprons, bouffants, and sleeves, for a broad variety of industry applications. Ansell is
also a truly global company in the hand protection market with its operations in 35
countries spread across six continents. This, coupled with the company’s high brand
reputation in the global hand protection market, has allowed it to quickly grow in the body
protection market as well.

Regulatory compliance plays a significant role in the purchasing decision-making process.
Being one of the key participants in the global hand protection market, Ansell frequently
works closely with regulatory bodies to help shape new regulatory changes. Unlike its
competitors, these efforts provide Ansell greater insight into upcoming regulatory changes
and the impact of such changes by developing products accordingly. The company also
helps increase customer awareness in this regard. For example, in early 2016, when new
EN standards were introduced, Ansell developed an educational package to keep its
customers and end users well informed about the documented changes. Ansell’s
capabilities are unique in the market and have enabled it to further enhance its brand
loyalty globally.
Ansell also takes pride in its brands that are developed for
specific industry verticals, such as HyFlex®
, ActivArmr®
,
AlphaTec®
, Solvex®
, VersaTouch®
, Viking®
, Trellchem®
, ,
Microflex®
, TouchNTuff®
, and GAMMEX®
. HyFlex®
is
considered to be one of the most-recognized brands in the
hand protection market globally because it revolutionized
the market as an effective replacement for conventional
leather gloves. Even though the HyFlex®
line of products
was launched 20 years ago, Ansell’s unilateral focus to
enhance features in existing products and also build upon
product development technologies has allowed HyFlex®
to
be a reputed brand even today. A testament to this is the
6% growth in sales of HyFlex®
products in 2015 compared
to 2014. Such focused approach and proactive strategies
have enabled the company to consistently maintain its
leadership position across various regions and industry
verticals.

Conclusion
A comprehensive product portfolio across a number of industry verticals, coupled with
excellence in innovation, a strong customer-centric approach, and global footprint justifies
Ansell’s leadership positioning in the global hand protection market. The company’s
established product line, such as HyFlex®
, along with robust product development
capabilities offers tremendous value add to its customers worldwide and further reinforces
the company’s presence in the highly competitive and price-sensitive environment. Such
an effort to lead by example truly makes Ansell the forerunner in the global hand
protection market. This effort and strategy has also allowed Ansell to grow sales by more
than 60% to $1.6 billion and profitability by more than 100% in the last five years. The
company benefits from a strong balance sheet which allows it to move ahead of the
competition and 5X the annual level investment of 2011.
With its strong overall performance, Ansell has earned Frost & Sullivan’s 2016 Company of
the Year Award.

Significance of Company of the Year
To win the Company of the Year award (i.e., to be recognized as a leader not only in your
industry, but among your non-industry peers as well) requires a company to demonstrate
excellence in growth, innovation, and leadership. This kind of excellence typically
translates into superior performance in three key areas: demand generation, brand
development, and competitive positioning. These areas serve as the foundation of a
company’s future success and prepare it to deliver on the two criteria that define the
Company of the Year Award (Visionary Innovation & Performance and Customer Impact).
Understanding Company of the Year
As discussed above, driving demand, brand strength, and competitive differentiation all
play a critical role in delivering unique value to customers. This three-fold focus, however,
must ideally be complemented by an equally rigorous focus on visionary innovation to
enhance customer value and impact.

Key Benchmarking Criteria
For the Company of the Year Award, Frost & Sullivan analysts independently evaluated
two key factors—Visionary Innovation & Performance and Customer Impact—according to
the criteria identified below.
Visionary Innovation & Performance
Criterion 1: Addressing Unmet Needs
Criterion 2: Visionary Scenarios Through Mega Trends
Criterion 3: Implementation Best Practices
Criterion 4: Blue Ocean Strategy
Criterion 5: Financial Performance
Customer Impact
Criterion 1: Price/Performance Value
Criterion 2: Customer Purchase Experience
Criterion 3: Customer Ownership Experience
Criterion 4: Customer Service Experience
Criterion 5: Brand Equity
Best Practice Award Analysis for Ansell
Decision Support Scorecard
To support its evaluation of best practices across multiple business performance
categories, Frost & Sullivan employs a customized Decision Support Scorecard. This tool
allows our research and consulting teams to objectively analyze performance, according to
the key benchmarking criteria listed in the previous section, and to assign ratings on that
basis. The tool follows a 10-point scale that allows for nuances in performance evaluation;
ratings guidelines are illustrated below.
RATINGS GUIDELINES
The Decision Support Scorecard is organized by Visionary Innovation & Performance and
Customer Impact (i.e., the overarching categories for all 10 benchmarking criteria; the
definitions for each criteria are provided beneath the scorecard). The research team
confirms the veracity of this weighted scorecard through sensitivity analysis, which

confirms that small changes to the ratings for a specific criterion do not lead to a
significant change in the overall relative rankings of the companies.
The results of this analysis are shown below. To remain unbiased and to protect the
interests of all organizations reviewed, we have chosen to refer to the other key players
as Competitor 2 and Competitor 3.
DECISION SUPPORT SCORECARD FOR COMPANY OF THE YEAR AWARD
Measurement of 1–10 (1 = poor; 10 = excellent)
Company of the Year
Visionary
Innovation &
Performance
Customer
Impact Average Rating
Ansell 9.6 9.4 9.5
Competitor 2 8.4 8.6 8.5
Competitor 3 8 8 8
Criterion 1: Addressing Unmet Needs
Requirement: Implementing a robust process to continuously unearth customers’ unmet
or under-served needs, and creating the products or solutions to address them effectively
Criterion 2: Visionary Scenarios Through Mega Trends
Requirement: Incorporating long-range, macro-level scenarios into the innovation
strategy, thereby enabling “first to market” growth opportunities solutions
Criterion 4: Implementation of Best Practices
Requirement: Best-in-class strategy implementation characterized by processes, tools, or
activities that generate a consistent and repeatable level of success.
Criterion 3: Blue Ocean Strategy
Requirement: Strategic focus in creating a leadership position in a potentially
“uncontested” market space, manifested by stiff barriers to entry for competitors
Criterion 5: Financial Performance
Requirement: Strong overall business performance in terms of revenues, revenue growth,
operating margin and other key financial metrics
Customer Impact
Criterion 1: Price/Performance Value
Requirement: Products or services offer the best value for the price, compared to similar
offerings in the market
Criterion 2: Customer Purchase Experience
Requirement: Customers feel like they are buying the most optimal solution that
addresses both their unique needs and their unique constraints

Criterion 3: Customer Ownership Experience
Requirement: Customers are proud to own the company’s product or service, and have a
positive experience throughout the life of the product or service
Criterion 4: Customer Service Experience
Requirement: Customer service is accessible, fast, stress-free, and of high quality
Criterion 5: Brand Equity
Requirement: Customers have a positive view of the brand and exhibit high brand loyalty
Decision Support Matrix
Once all companies have been evaluated according to the Decision Support Scorecard,
analysts can then position the candidates on the matrix shown below, enabling them to
visualize which companies are truly breakthrough and which ones are not yet operating at
best-in-class levels.
DECISION SUPPORT MATRIX FOR COMPANY OF THE YEAR AWARD
High
Low
Low High
CustomerImpact
Ansell
Competitor 2
Competitor 3

The Intersection between 360-Degree Research and Best
Practices Awards
Research Methodology
Frost & Sullivan’s 360-degree research
methodology represents the analytical
rigor of our research process. It offers a
360-degree-view of industry challenges,
trends, and issues by integrating all 7 of
Frost & Sullivan's research methodologies.
Too often, companies make important
growth decisions based on a narrow
understanding of their environment,
leading to errors of both omission and
commission. Successful growth strategies
are founded on a thorough understanding
of market, technical, economic, financial,
customer, best practices, and demographic
analyses. The integration of these research
disciplines into the 360-degree research
methodology provides an evaluation
platform for benchmarking industry players and for identifying those performing at best-
in-class levels.
360-DEGREE RESEARCH: SEEING ORDER IN
THE CHAOS

Best Practices Recognition: 10 Steps to Researching,
Identifying, and Recognizing Best Practices
Frost & Sullivan Awards follow a 10-step process to evaluate award candidates and assess
their fit with select best practice criteria. The reputation and integrity of the Awards are
based on close adherence to this process.
STEP OBJECTIVE KEY ACTIVITIES OUTPUT
1
Monitor,
target, and
screen
Identify award recipient
candidates from around the
globe
• Conduct in-depth industry
research
• Identify emerging sectors
• Scan multiple geographies
Pipeline of candidates who
potentially meet all best-
practice criteria
2
Perform
360-degree
research
Perform comprehensive,
360-degree research on all
candidates in the pipeline
• Interview thought leaders
and industry practitioners
• Assess candidates’ fit with
best-practice criteria
• Rank all candidates
Matrix positioning all
candidates’ performance
relative to one another
3
Invite
thought
leadership in
best
practices
Perform in-depth
examination of all candidates
• Confirm best-practice criteria
• Examine eligibility of all
candidates
• Identify any information gaps
Detailed profiles of all
ranked candidates
4
Initiate
research
director
review
Conduct an unbiased
evaluation of all candidate
profiles
• Brainstorm ranking options
• Invite multiple perspectives
on candidates’ performance
• Update candidate profiles
Final prioritization of all
eligible candidates and
companion best-practice
positioning paper
5
Assemble
panel of
industry
experts
Present findings to an expert
panel of industry thought
leaders
• Share findings
• Strengthen cases for
candidate eligibility
• Prioritize candidates
Refined list of prioritized
award candidates
6
Conduct
global
industry
review
Build consensus on award
candidates’ eligibility
• Hold global team meeting to
review all candidates
• Pressure-test fit with criteria
• Confirm inclusion of all
eligible candidates
Final list of eligible award
candidates, representing
success stories worldwide
7
Perform
quality check
Develop official award
consideration materials
• Perform final performance
benchmarking activities
• Write nominations
• Perform quality review
High-quality, accurate, and
creative presentation of
nominees’ successes
8
Reconnect
with panel of
industry
experts
Finalize the selection of the
best-practice award recipient
• Review analysis with panel
• Build consensus
• Select winner
Decision on which company
performs best against all
best-practice criteria
9
Communicate
recognition
Inform award recipient of
award recognition
• Present award to the CEO
• Inspire the organization for
continued success
• Celebrate the recipient’s
performance
Announcement of award
and plan for how recipient
can use the award to
enhance the brand
10
Take
strategic
action
Upon licensing, company
may share award news with
stakeholders and customers
• Coordinate media outreach
• Design a marketing plan
• Assess award’s role in future
strategic planning
Widespread awareness of
recipient’s award status
among investors, media
personnel, and employees

About Frost & Sullivan
Frost & Sullivan, the Growth Partnership Company, enables clients to accelerate growth
and achieve best in class positions in growth, innovation and leadership. The company's
Growth Partnership Service provides the CEO and the CEO's Growth Team with disciplined
research and best practice models to drive the generation, evaluation and implementation
of powerful growth strategies. Frost & Sullivan leverages almost 50 years of experience in
partnering with Global 1000 companies, emerging businesses and the investment
community from 31 offices on six continents. To join our Growth Partnership, please visit
http://www.frost.com.
Ansell, ® and ™ are trademarks owned by Ansell Limited or one of its affiliates, except as noted. Blue Ocean Strategy® is a
trademark of ITM Research Inc. US Patented and US and non-US Patents Pending: www.ansell.com/patentmarking © 2016
Ansell Limited. All Rights Reserved.

2016 Global Hand Protection Company of the Year Award

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