PING has a renowned reputation in golf club-making, dating back to 1959 when Karsten Solheim started making putters in his garage. Karsten’s frustration with his putting inspired him to design a putter which made a ‘pinging’ sound when striking the golf ball.

He soon extended his range to irons and woods and PING’s European headquarters in Gainsborough is one of the locations where this manufacturing legacy continues today, but with 21st century manufacturing techniques applied!

The Situation

PING’s Gainsborough site houses a leading-edge assembly and production facility with all staff working towards delivering a bespoke service with every single club individually made to a client’s specification. Over 100 employees are required to wear hand protection to handle the equipment and protect against chemicals.

One size does not fit all when it comes to using golf clubs and this is the philosophy that lies at the heart of PING’s service by offering to provide custom-fit golfing equipment to professionals and amateurs alike. Unfortunately, however in the past, this belief was not historically reflected in its policy for providing hand protection to the manufacturing team; with a generic ‘suitable for all’ approach being in place.

It was then recognized that a tailored hand protection solution would deliver increased levels of safety to the employees as well as benefitting production output. Globus was brought in to help PING provide a bespoke hand protection solution that would not only be appropriate for the specific tasks, hazards, and workers, but above all, be reliable.

On the factory floor, specialized teams apply thirty different skilled processes in the crafting of each individual golf club. Epoxy resins, solvents, degreasers, and aggressive chemicals are all used throughout various stages of the manufacturing process and to ensure efficient production, confident handling of each is needed at all stages.

In addition to protection, it was important that the gloves allowed excellent freedom of hand movement as well as the necessary amount of tactile grip for handling the intricate components.

The Solution

Following an in-depth assessment, experts from Globus set about developing an in-depth analysis for hand protection requirements to deliver measurable improvements. At the heart of this was a detailed evaluation of the chemicals that the team were exposed to as part of the assembly process. The extensive analytical work resulted in a reusable and disposable safety glove solution that provided longer-lasting protection against the range of aggressive chemicals.

As part of the trials and calculations conducted by Globus, statistics demonstrated that for one commonly used solvent, the new SHOWA chemical resistant glove delivered three times better permeation protection compared to the previous style. The feedback was unanimous; the Globus glove solution allowed a longer handling time whilst wearing the same pair of gloves. Considering this metric alone, the consequences were fewer glove changes, improved productivity, improved environmental credentials as well as high performance chemical protection.

Sometimes wearing a protective glove offering greater resistance to permeation can also result in the wearer having reduced fingertip sensation. For PING workers this was certainly not the case. Globus understood that dexterity, freedom of hand movement and tactility were prerequisites that could not be ignored, and these were fully considered within the chemical resistant glove solution specified.

Training and Education

When handling chemicals of any type, the quality and appropriateness of the protective glove is a concern for any worker. Globus worked with the site’s Health and Safety team to conduct a detailed staff educational programme about the new gloves. Wearer acceptance subsequently followed as the gloves performed extremely well and were well-fitting and comfortable. Bespoke training material was also provided to aid glove selection on-site.

“Globus delivered a high quality and sensible hand protection solution for us. Their assessment approach and ability to help us manage the change process with the team also proved invaluable.” – Nick Dear, HR and Compliance Manager, PING Europe

Conclusion

Fundamentally both PING and Globus believe that an individually designed solution ultimately benefits their respective customers in the best way.

Golf professionals across the world are enabled to perform at their peak thanks to a PING custom-fit solution. The resulting competitive edge can have a huge effect on performance and the same can be said when providing hand protection solutions to the workers involved in manufacturing the actual golfing equipment.

And thanks to the tailor-made chemical-resistant hand protection solution from Globus, the PING manufacturing and assembly team are now equipped to perform at their peak too.

Download the case study, here.