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TK BosaengGearing up for growth: Future perspectives on the global gloves market

Mr. Maxim Sheaib Vice President, TK Bosaeng Glove Co., Ltd.

Mr. Hak Goo Kim CEO, TK Bosaeng Glove Co., Ltd.

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Exclusive Interview with Mr. Maxim Sheaib, Vice President of TK Bosaeng Glove Co., Ltd. (Executive Member of the Board of Di-rectors).

In brief, tell us about your company.

TK Bosaeng Glove is a well-known producer of natural rubber products for over 35 years - we enjoy an excellent global reputation for high quality, comfortable, natural and sustain-able rubber products (rubber gloves - rubber boots - rubber air cushion) - manufactured in-itially in South Korea, then in Sri Lanka and now in Thailand.

TK Bosaeng has enjoyed great success in the manufacture of its Bosaeng brand by be-coming a leader in industrial rubber gloves in South Korea. Our brand name product which is owned by TK Bosaeng shareholders can be seen in movie blockbusters and widely-popular Television shows.

We are specialized in manufacturing high quality, safe, protective, flexible, strong, and long-lasting rubber gloves. Our natural rub-ber products are applied in multiple sectors and industries such as fishing, aquaculture, agriculture, automotive, food processing, cleaning services, and household activities.

We have been in constant and continuous growth, developing new ranges and types of gloves to meet various industries’ needs. Our gloves have been awarded multiple certifica-tions throughout the years in addition to meet-ing various markets’ requirements.

We are committed to developing innovative new ranges in the future, using natural, sus-tainable raw materials of the highest quality. We are committed to maintain consistency in producing top quality products.

Please share your perspective on the Thai rubber glove industry in general, its problems and prospects.

Thailand is a haven for rubber products manu-facturers especially when it comes to Natural Rubber. Majority of Thai glove manufacturers are loyal to using NR latex since Thailand is the main leader and major player in the natural rubber industry, with its production and export accounting to a third of the world’s NR pro-duction, reaching almost 35% of the world’s NR exports, followed by Indonesia, Vietnam, and Malaysia.

The market for rubber gloves has expanded rapidly over the past few decades, as eco-nomic manufacturing processes have deve-

“Our aim is to be the leading global supplier of high quality, safe and cost efficient gloves and rubber products to the worldwide market” Maxim Sheaib, Vice President of TK Bosaeng Glove Co., Ltd.

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signing new agreements and supporting our customers to reach mutual growth.

At TK Bosaeng Glove, we can categorize re-cent and future work into three categories.Upstream: - We hired qualified professionals to lead our team along with the recruitment of new team members.- We have introduced change management, implemented new quality control flows, applied improvement systems like Kaizen, and structured our entire operations.- We purchased, built, and expanded our machinery to meet production and demand capacity.- We are expanding our range of gloves and types to meet demands of our existing customers as well as our new markets.Midstream: - We built new warehouse facilities at our factory premises to expedite supply and ensure readiness at all times.- We dispatched market exploration teams to research new opportunities by understanding market regulations, necessities, and pricing strategies. These studies are continuous in order to maintain our knowledge of market trends.- We are meeting new and potential prospects overseas in several markets on a continuous basis.Downstream:- We have revised all of our standard procedures and introduced new trainings, with the assis tance of several government bodies.- We are constantly evolving our processes in procurement, supply chain management, logistics, and administrative operations so that we facilitate customer satisfaction and expedite supply.- We are meeting on a regular basis with our clients and impending customers, supporting them in packaging process, design, marketing and sales.- We are seeking innovative techniques to control and monitor inventory, facilitate complex operations, and enable ease of financial transactions.

At the heart of our business is customer sat-isfaction and commitment to quality. We treat our suppliers like our partners and we treat

loped to meet a rising concern over health and safety in industry, the medical profession and in the home. Natural rubber latex will continue to dominate the market, despite the growing demand for nitrile gloves, particularly in es-tablished markets. Natural products will cater largely for new and emerging markets.

Certain challenges arise from political or so-cio-economic factors; however, with the sup-port of Thai Rubber Glove Manufacturers As-sociation, the government’s assistance with adequate solutions, challenges can be over-come.

Thailand is known for its unity during turmoil or unforeseen changes, so obstacles can be tackled together. For example, recently the government has launched a program in partnership with Thai local banks, ministry of agriculture, and the rubber research institute of Thailand, to support rubber products manu-facturers.

With growing awareness and demand in the healthcare field, occupational hazard, work-place safety, along with domestic wellbeing, the demand for household, industrial, and medical gloves will grow additionally.

Could you explain your company’s future roadmap, especially for expanding into new markets?

Since 2015, TK Bosaeng’s management has been evolving from sole management into an organizational structure with several direc-tors for each executive department in order to build a thriving advancement. We are able to communicate freely in several languages such as Russian, Arabic, French, Chinese, Korean, and Thai, so as to facilitate all chan-nels of communication.

The core of our business is our people so we hired qualified professionals with extensive experience in the field to assist us and drive these changes confidently.

Our sales and production in the past 12 months have doubled through the development of new relationships and establishing new potential markets. Our presence has been fortified by

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our customers like our partners, with the purpose of achieving mutual fun-damental success for all parties in-volved.

How would you define the market segment your company is in? Who are your core customers?

In the early days the major demand ic slowdown, greater awareness of health and safety in both the home and working industry, will contribute to the growth.

We are excited for the future, believing there are huge opportunities for the rubber goods markets and TK Bosaeng’s sales growth is expected to be about 35%, outperforming in-dustry’s growth rate.

How much do exports contribute to your total turnover?

About 90% of our sales are exports. With complete conformity to rigorous, internation-ally-accepted standards, we have an enviable reputation for the quality and consistency of all our rubber products; a comprehensive and highly effective logistics network means we can take the order, produce and ship to the client in a very timely manner, at very com-petitive prices.

What are the advantages of NR latex gloves compared to synthetic gloves?

Natural rubber provides total barrier protec-tion; perfect comfort; easy to put on; long life, strength and durability; excellent elasticity. As well, natural rubber gloves are truly environ-mentally friendly. As a natural product they degrade easily in landfill, and if incinerated, produce mainly non-harmful water and car-bon dioxide. In addition, natural rubber gloves have been used and applied in multiple indus-tries for over 100 years because of the valu-able, advantageous, and beneficial qualities offered.

How serious is the threat of nitrile gloves to the NR latex gloves?

Natural rubber latex gloves will remain in control of the world market, in spite of the

was from industry, especially Fishing, Con-struction and Agriculture, where requirements are for protection from heat exposure, chemi-cal and detergent handling, and other heavy duty tasks. The gloves we developed for these purposes are durable, non-penetrative and flexible, and these have set the rubber industry standard for many years.

Our rubber glove usage has expanded to in-clude just about every major sector including automotive, horticulture, food handling, food processing and distribution, public works, sewage handling and so much more.

At TK Bosaeng we understand the various needs of all these industry sectors and manu-facture top quality rubber gloves that are de-signed to match these requirements.

Where do you currently see the highest demand and the highest growth rates for rubber gloves?

Markets with the fastest GDP growth will contribute intensely to demand. In the top 50 countries by GDP growth, we notice that majority of these countries are in Africa, Asia, and a relevant number in Central or East Eu-rope. Emerging markets will be at the van-guard of production and sales growth. Asia’s leading and growing economies along with health, safety, and standard awareness, will drive growth exponentially. Africa is a strong potential market showing highest GDP im-provement.

What are your expectations for the full financial year?

We believe the demand globally for rubber gloves will grow by around 6% in 2016. Al-though we are experiencing a global econom-

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growing demand for synthetic rubber gloves, particularly in developed or advanced econo-mies. NR latex gloves will provide and accom-modate further the supply for evolving and emerging markets. In the healthcare sector, there is a higher possibility of advanced / de-veloped countries to reduce their use of NR latex gloves to a minimum low.

Humans can react to different materials through time, through evolution and other fac-tors. Nitrile gloves can also cause sensitivities if the user is allergic to petroleum based prod-ucts or certain chemicals. Furthermore, nitrile products are yet limited in certain sectors such as the food processing industries, service in-dustries, and fishing industries. Nitrile prod-ucts will require longer time to be accepted by some users and in different applications.

Another factor plays a crucial role is the fluc-tuating price of natural rubber which causes unsettling and unstable price volatility. This price irregularity could cause more shifts to synthetic rubber, eventually reducing the de-mand for NR latex gloves.

What could be added value products made from rubber that could give your company a special sales proposition?

At TK Bosaeng we invest in Research and Development in order to innovate, invent, and compete with new creative goods. We cur-rently have 2 rubber products under test and trial runs. Once successful, these products will launch accordingly.

How do you compete technologically on your product offerings?

TK Bosaeng has for many years been at the forefront of natural rubber gloves manufactur-ing and we take our responsibility for safety extremely highly. Thus, we employ expert consultants to ensure our selection of chemi-cals and compounds are of the highest qual-ity. We use the Korean Testing & Research Institute (KTR) to advise, analyze, and report on our product formulations and to ensure the finished rubber gloves are user-friendly and harmless. Our chemical suppliers are obliged

to provide Material Safety Data Sheets for all delivered batches and our aim, always, is to ensure safe practices cover materials selec-tion right through to the manufacturing pro-cess. KTR consultants support us in product testing and advise us on beneficial laboratory equipment for purchase.

Our main industrial factor in our product of-ferings is internal management changes, and hiring team members from various industries to bring unique perspectives with the aim of optimizing the output of procurement, logis-tics, and administration.

TK Bosaeng is always open and is not hesi-tant when it comes to recruiting talented staff who can contribute to company’s growth. Hav-ing a right person at right position can surely overcome technological challenges

It is reported that many glove manufac-turers are finding it difficult to survive in the wake of rise in the cost of labour and raw materials? Your comments please.

With the advancement of technology and the introduction of more automated machinery in factories, cost of labor is replaced by new costs. However, human capital is still required to maintain the machinery along with other related costs. Raw material prices fluctuate subject to supply and demand, which should be controlled through proper independent committees. The economy is a cycle of ups

Mr. Hak Goo Kim

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and downs, dragging the consumer from low prices to higher prices, then a drop or a freeze on certain goods. As manufacturers, distrib-utors, and suppliers, we are bound by oil & gas prices, economic changes, and macro-economic influences. As players in the rubber products industry, we bear the responsibility of sharing the knowledge and causes of such changes to the consumer in order to mutually agree on the impact of such costs. Also, each manufacturer should diversify his product range to maintain a diversified portfolio. How-ever, when it is related to the healthcare, food hygiene, health safety, occupational hazard, and related major personal protection equip-ment industries, a rise in cost correlates di-rectly to an increase in selling / buying prices that does not allow sacrifices in human lives in addition to wellbeing and safety.

dandelion are also being studied to increase the latex liquid inside the plant and to reduce waste produced by rubber.

How do you see rubber glove industry in the future?

Bad news is good news. With recent out-breaks such as the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus (MERS-CoV) in the Middle East, Human Infection with Avian In-fluenza in China and Far East, Ebola in Af-rica, Zika Virus in South America, the rubber gloves industry benefits tremendously from these cases. Requirements to use rubber gloves became indispensable on top of com-pulsory use during emergencies. Unfortunate incidents to some are actually pragmatic op-portunities to others. However, we do not wait for these incidents to happen. To avoid such

In terms of raw materials, as rubber glove manufacturers, we seek new sources or ma-terials for use. Scientists and researchers are growing a special kind of Dandelion to be used as a sustainable source of rubber. This Dandelion is capable of producing rubber la-tex that has almost an identical quality and performance as those produced from Hevea Brasiliensis trees grown in South East Asia.

Scientists and researchers need to show to farmers that they could profit in planting dan-delions, especially in countries like Thailand where farmers play a crucial role in the Thai economy. This applies to neighbouring coun-tries in South East Asia. Additional uses of the

disastrous events, we should seek to increase awareness in health, hygiene, and safety for numerous applications. This industry will con-tinue innovating, inventing, and seeking origi-nal ways to reduce costs. The most important role of the rubber glove industry is to contrib-ute to communities and societies.

Could you tell us about other startups or product builds that you have been a part of and what your role was?

Recently I have partnered and launched a new business venture that consists of four business units, offering various services such as consulting, supply chain management, trade development, and market expansion

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services. As a member of the board of direc-tors governing all elements of the company’s development, I oversee all units to ensure successful project outcome.

At TK Bosaeng Glove Co., my main focus is on the company’s strategic long-term goals, public relations, global sales & marketing, and a strong involvement in the company’s future expansion.

With the collaborative work of the executive committee, we have launched a new brand, trademarked it globally, and introduced new product ranges.

I’m also the prime interface with government agencies where my fluency in Russian, Arabic, French and English is extremely beneficial.

At Thai Rubber Gloves Manufacturers As-socation (TRGMA), my role is to support the association’s manifestation and public ap-pearance. My position in the executive com-mittee is to actively represent the association in local and global activities, by nurturing new relationships for the beneficial growth, future progress, and development of our members. Recently, I have participated in the Global Rubber Conference in Vietnam and planning to attend the upcoming one in Krabi, Thailand, on behalf of TRGMA.

With a decade of experience in operations management working with multinational com-panies in Europe, South East Asia, Middle East and Ukraine, I’ve had the opportunity to be part of senior management and work on

pre-opening of multi-billion dollar integrated resort, flagship properties, and high-end de-velopment projects.

Holding a six sigma green belt in operation innovation, I have successfully implemented new projects as a project manager / team leader, bringing fresh best practices to the MEA region.

What are some specific beliefs or values that you work by? How do you ensure that your values and vision permeate the company?

There are numerous beliefs and values that I live by. I’m a people’s person and I highly emphasize the value of people. In my busi-ness dictionary, human capital is an asset and not a liability. Happiness is achieved when it is shared. Success is the result of a collective team work.

The strong values that I focus on: - Hire people with the right attitude using a competency based recruitment method. - Value the opinion of all team members by involving them in decision making process. - Commitment to delivering results by empowering team members through macro-management. - Receive constant feedback from team members about my personal management skills, projects I’m working on, and any decision that impacts the company. - Develop others and allow them to work on new areas with the purpose of gaining further experience and enhancing their performance. - Create a friendly working environment where everyone is appreciated and respected. - Lead the way by initiating new strategies allowing team members to initiate their own tactics and implement positive changes. - Allow team members to boost their initiative in creating or developing things

Last but not least, treat people the way I want to be treated. Every workplace should also have the following foundations such as honesty, business ethics, and social improve-ment. As a leader in my workplace, I do not see problems but I see challenges that can always be overcome with solutions. All team

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members know that when they approach me to discuss a challenge, they bring along a bucket of solutions, and then we choose the best solutions to tackle obstacles.

How did you get your start in the rubber gloves business?

I have always had my entrepreneurial spirit and strong ambitions in the business world. After working in South East Asia for a few years, I’ve always planned to come back to the region. Thailand’s culture, industrial mar-ket, economical diversity, cost of living, busi-ness opportunities, and rich abundance of agro-industries made me interested in explor-ing it further. Now, the Kingdom is my home.

I have had the opportunity to join TK Bosaeng Glove Co. Ltd. during challenging times, as a member of the board of directors, becoming a shareholder. TK Bosaeng’s vision with my ambitions coincided. On a micro level, I want TK Bosaeng to grow globally and on a macro level, I want to contribute to Thailand’s econo-my, development, and future progress.

Previously I have gained extensive experi-ence in management and especially in setting up new projects from pre-opening, opening, and post opening operations with constant re-views and alterations. Therefore, TK Bosaeng was the right place to be in because it required modifications and business transitions.

What is your management philosophy?

The most fundamental element in my belief is education and constant contribution to self-development with the intention of developing others, sharing knowledge, and moving pro-gressively towards a prosperous future.

My management philosophy can be summa-rized briefly in three attributes:

I’ve always followed two simple principles with immense impacts: Adidas slogan “Impossible is Nothing” and Nike’s “Just do it”. There are no obstacles in my philosophy, but solutions and alternatives.

Previously, I’ve been known for my daily reply on “how are you” in saying “another beautiful

day in paradise” because every day is posi-tive in its own way. I’m always optimistic and I can see the sun behind the clouds.

Change is crucial. There is an old Chinese proverb that says: “when the wind of change blows, some build walls, and other build wind-mills”. My fast paced style of achieving goals and gaining more knowledge through per-sistent learning, allows me to seek constant change, thus I’m always doing or trying some-thing new.

What is your big challenge ahead?

I’m in constant change and I tend to work on several schemes at the same time. My big challenge is to ensure that every venture re-ceives adequate input and dedicate time to further enhance my learning knowledge in various fields.

Any other points you would like to high-light?

TK Bosaeng Glove has a young management team that is willing to take up new changes and is always looking for innovative means to apply effective reforms. We encourage di-verse developments and we are not afraid of failures.

However, two vital factors will remain in our list of priorities and will be always taken into consideration are:

• Customer Satisfaction - giving customers more value for money. • Recruitment of talented staff to contribute to our future growth.