A Tour of Superior Glove®
Acton, Ontario Canada
Our wholesale distribution company has enjoyed working with the folks just across the border at Superior Glove® Works. When the opportunity 
was presented to us to visit their Action, Ontario facility and meet their inside sales staff and Vice President/Owner Joe Geng for a plant tour, we jumped at the chance, and boy were we impressed. I can better understand now why Superior Glove® has been voted Canada's Top 25 Best Managed Companies.
In relatively close proximity to each other, we crossed the Canadian border and drove up the Queen Elizabeth Highway to their corporate headquarters about 1-1/2 hours away from our corporate office and warehouse. Nested on top of a hill in a more rural setting are their offices, warehouse and manufacturing lines, and as we approached closer to their address, we could see their Superior Glove® Logo about 1/2 mile away!
FIRST STOP
Dotting Machine Lines
After brief greetings, we were whisked away and over to their dotting machines. Hidden by 55-gallon drums of anti-slip coatin
gs was automated machinery with flat hand forms and a press. Here is where they take their knitted gloves that are manufactured and shipped in from their Newfoundland glove factory. Unpacked and then loaded onto glove forms, gloves are pressed into a tray of coating that binds dots to the surfaces of the gloves. At the time, we witnessed cut-resistant Kevlar® gloves infused with PVC dots.
SECOND STOP
Distribution Center | Central Warehousing
From there, we passed through 13 warehouses filled with skids of industrial work gloves to get to their central warehouse, a 125,000 square foot building with ceilings that reach the sky. The neat part of this stop was the floor plan.
In need of racking to inventory vast amounts of glove product, Superior Glove® was able to layout aisles of racking that are no more than 4-6 feet apart. With no room to turn a traditional tow motor, my first thought was how in the heck can anyone retrieve pallets on the high racks? It was at that moment my wife and I were invited for a sky ride on the neatest tow motor ever.
Going zero to sixty in like 5 seconds, this specilaized battery operated tow motor 
lift took us straight down the aisle and then swiftly upwards to grab a skid with side sliding forks. I was told that this tow motor saved them from having to purchase 5 times the floor space...brilliant!
Locating a single SKU among several thousand's was as simple as pointing the hand-held scanner and pulling the trigger. This device directs warehouse personel right over to the product, almost like GPS.
NEXT STOP
Custom Glove Labeling/Private Branding
Our next stop was the custom stamping machine. Here is where Superior Glove® can stamp imprint your favorite glove with a company's name and/or logo. Available in a variety of ink colors, we witnessed Endura® Leather Driver Gloves being stamped with information for a local Hardware Store. Custom printed gloves are awesome for private labeling/branding but it is being incorporated by large companies as a deterrent to theft.
FOURTH STOP
R & D | Engineered Hand Protection
Next up was a short viewing of Superior Glove's Research and Development lab where new glove concepts are created for customers who have a difficult time finding the right glove for their work environment. It is here in the R&D lab where glove engineers take the information gathered from their sales teams and then custom design a glove to meet the customer's application. This business model has separated Superior from the competition and has greatly contributed to their overall growth and product offerings of over 3000 styles of innovative industrial work safety gloves.
FIFTH STOP
Internal Quality Control Lab | Ensuring ANSI Safety Standards
We were invited inside their quality control lab and let me say, Superior Glove® takes quality seriously. It is here where ANSI Rating Levels are randomly measured to ensure that the safety standards meet the safety criteria.
For example, Superior Glove's puncture-resistant material known as Punkban™ is tested using what looks like a
contractor-grade finishing nail and a hypodermic needle. Their cut-resistant scores are checked using a machine, weights and freshly changed razor blades. Impact forces are recorded with a machine that drops a weight to gauge the protection values of TPR Guards and abrasion ratings for gloves like Zedcoat® are measured with gritted wheel disc's that resemble sandpaper. In this lab was also a heat plate that confirmed melting points of heat-resistant gloves and an industrial type freezer that used thermal imaging that identify weak areas in extreme cold weather gloves such as Snowforce™. Customers can be assured that safety is forefront at Superior Glove®.
NEXT STOP
Cleanroom Processing | Certified Clean Gloves
Superior Glove® constructs lightweight, non-shedding coated and uncoated knitted gloves for use in critical environments but generally, these gloves are not manufactured or packaged to meet a cleanroom classification claim. Located within their corporate headquarters is a class 100 cleanroom that features HEPA filtration and ventilation systems which enables engineers to clean process and package any of Superior's gloves to a customer's required cleanroom classification!
LAST STOP
Dip Coating Lines
Our last and favorite stop was the dip coating machines. Hand forms carrying cut-resistant gloves such as Dexterity® and TenaActiv® traveled along a conveyor or assembly line. First they were dipped into translucent "primer" then into either nitrile or foam nitrile coating, then allowed to dry. Here is where owner Mr. Geng said contracting this process overseas would no doubt be cheaper and cleaner for his company, but Superior Glove® would rather be in full control of the quality.
After our tour we had a lunch meeting with the inside sales team. A great bunch, I can tell you they are very dedicated to customer satisfaction and interested in relationships. Finding the proper industrial safety work glove at a price point that fits within budgets is what they do and they stand ready to serve.
MDS is proud to be an authorized full-line wholesale distributor for Superior Glove® products. Contact us for everyday low prices on top performing brands such as Dexterity®, Clutch Gear®, Endura®, TenActive®, D3o®, Superior Touch®, Sure-Knit®, Cool Grip®, Proban®, Protex®, VibraStop™, ChemStop®, Emerald CX®, Cutban™, Contender™, Zedcoat®, North Sea™, Punkban™ and Snowforce™.
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Chances are you are paying more for less! Visit MDSassociates.com and view wholesale priced industrial work safety gloves you just can't find anywhere else. Don't see a Superior Glove® product style listed on our web site? Simply contact MDS with the SKU number and we can provide you with a quick price. We will gladly upload your item to our web site for future ordering!
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