The 2008 Frost & Sullivan Award for Green Excellence Award in Product Innovation is presented to the EcoGlove system in the medical devices market for Europe for bringing to market an unique system that has moved glove supply from simple commodity style purchasing to a full service based approach. This innovation provides a consistently high quality glove at less overall cost, results in better quality control, reduced import burdens and, at the same time, addresses the important issues of waste management and overuse of resources.

 

 

     Sustainability in Healthcare, especially in the developed world, is a key current issue. No longer is the environment important just for activists. It is now a part of the .new age of business. walking hand in hand with corporate social responsibility.

      Health care services often damage the environment. In fact, it is estimated that such services in the United States generate over 3 million tons of solid waste per year (Source: CMAJ, Canada). In addition, much of Healthcare waste is incinerated. Several studies continue to reveal the significant threat that incinerators pose to human health in Europe and around the world. The International Society of Doctors for the Environment(ISDE) representing 30,000 doctors worldwide is calling for efforts to reduce this for the sake of common good.

     Having already provided innovative clean room solutions to corporations including IBM and STMicroelectronics, the innovators behind Ecoglove have taken up the challenge to provide a solution that looks to address many Healthcare, infrastructural, cost and environmental concerns.

     The result is a high quality specially formulated Tr@ce glove that can be reconditioned and used 4-5 times (maybe more) where the reconditioning of the glove actually reenforces and double checks the quality and integrity of the glove. In an era of cost cutting where quality often takes a hit to accommodate price pressures, EcoGlove has introduced an innovative way to rein in costs, increase quality and, at the same time, reduce waste and contribute to local supply sustainability.

     The initial glove is supplied in a way similar to any other glove. Once used and collected by the local EcoGlove service provider, the process gets more interesting. In the current business model, EcoGlove has a locally appointed service partner who supplies the original glove and administers the 12 stage process with the .Glove Unique Reprocessing Unit (GURU) system. that reconditions it. The GURU will recondition up to 8 million gloves per year and may be used either on a dedicated or shared basis and is managed by the service partner. This designated service partner collects the used gloves and then puts then through the GURU system. The GURU system re-confirms the integrity of individual gloves and mechanically discards unsuitable or compromised gloves as clean waste. It cleans the gloves using a novel H2O2 / SDC process, dries them using carbon infra-red radiation and finally uses plasma technology to pin-hole test and further disinfect and decontaminate the gloves. These gloves are then repackaged and delivered back to the user. This process slashes waste by as much as 75 percent and significantly cuts energy use and expense as compared to using a single-use disposable product.

     About 10 percent of the used gloves could be rejected each time they go through the machine. These are shredded and the waste is sold to other reprocessors for re-use in other forms.

     Carbon Footprint Reduction: The Ecoglove product cuts back on shipping needed for importing batch after batch of single use gloves as each EcoGlove import can be reused 4 to 5 times and the reconditioning is done locally. This cuts the amount of fuel used as well as reduces other international logistic services. In addition, it requires less energy to recondition a glove than make a new one and the latex is reused rather than being discarded as waste. The carbon footprint of this product is thus lower.

     Regulations and Patents: The Tr@ce glove was CE comfirmed as a class I Medical Device in August 2008. The GURU glove recondiditoning Unit was CE marked as well. EcoGlove has filed 30 patent claims and is confident of having a unique and distinctiveproduct in the market.

     Enabling Tracking and Supply Management: In the era of outsourcing, costcutting and supply management, Healthcare providers are increasingly looking to track use and mis-use to set up efficient processes. Each glove provided by the EcoGlove system is printed with a unique identifier that is used to track every aspect of the glove use and reconditioning. This in turn provides the means for traceability, statistical analysis and management information giving healthcare administraters valuable insight into use statistics.

     Attracting Government and Investment Support:

     The Malasiyan Rubber board has given its support to the EcoGlove system and is involved in supporting new iniatives with them as it sees the business sense in reducing overuse of natural occuring resources and in cutting environmental waste. The EcoGlove system was validated  with hospitals in Penang and Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The EcoGlove system is being negotiated  in North America and Europe already well on the way to signing up.

      EcoGlove's system innovators have so far invested $3 million are looking to raise an additional $25 million for which it is in discussions with both European venture capitalists and government-backed companies in Asia.

      For European economies, the EcoGlove system of local service providers in conjunction with glove reconditioning makes the purchase of examination gloves less expensive, reduces healthcare waste and stimulates local economy and enterprise by making the local service provider an important link for the product to be a success.

     The concept of single use being best practice is now being challenged in the developed world on many grounds that include waste levels, environmental sustainability, cost efficiency and logistics - the outcome of the public consultation on the reprocessing of medical devices carried out in 2007 by the European Commission. The Managing Director stated that the consultation results show that there was a need to have a common European legislative framework for reprocessing and that positive experience, for example in Germany has shown reprocessing of so-called single-use medical devices to be both feasible and reasonable under high quality standards.

     The market interest generated by the EcoGlove system for its environmentally friendly, cost effective and innovative approach in many quarters, including prestigious and established medical organisations, national governments and supply chain agencies only reinforces this readiness for change and is a promising indicator of the increasing popularity of .Green Thought..

     The cumulative factors of cost-effectiveness, logistics simplificaiton, environmental consciousness in addition to enabling quality consciousness and getting local government support speak of an entrepreneurial dexterity in incorporating the current need of conservation into a business concept and make the EcoGlove system  the deserving recipient of the 2008 Frost & Sullivan Green Excellence Award in Product Innovation in the Medical Devices (Europe.)

     The Frost & Sullivan Green Excellence Award in Product Innovation is presented to a company that has demonstrated unique product design and development initiatives, which is aligned with a sustainable and environmentally conscious objective within its industry sector. This Award signifies the company's identification of a unique and revolutionary solution with significant environmental benefits, while presenting tremendous market potential simultaneously. Moreover, the Award also signifies that the company's overall business strategy is sound and poised for success.

     Product innovation, focused on environmental priorities and long-term sustainability, is assessed regularly through continuous monitoring amongst market participants within specific industry sectors. Frost & Sullivan.s analyst teams perform extensive interviews with companies within specific industries to evaluate their products, technologies and business strategies. In addition, research within that market space is performed to benchmark the Award recipient's product line against others. Also considered are elements such as strategic alliances, expected time to market, environmental soundness, long-term green strategies, and management advocacy behind the success of the product.

     Specific measurement criteria used to determine the final award recipient are as follows:

     Business Commitment

     Environmental Accountability