Frost & Sullivan: PPE Manufacturers To Benefit From Economic Revitalization And Greater Safety Expectations

Companies have enhanced their focus on offering customizable and stylish products to counter competition from low-cost imports

Mountain View, CA /PRNewswire/ - The revenue of the total above-the-neck personal protective equipment (PPE) market has steadily regained lost ground since 2010 due to the slow revitalization of US industrial sectors and greater expectations of safety assurances from their employers from the incoming generation of workers.

Frost & Sullivan's Chemicals, Materials and Food practice (www.frost.materials.com) finds that the above-the-neck PPE market earned revenue of $1.04 billion in 2013 and estimates this to reach $1.21 billion in 2018.

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While the total market revenue is expected to continue increasing, there are still many growth hurdles, such as inadequate support to create a zero-injury safety culture, lack of regulatory updates that hinder the integration of new features, and product commoditization due to increased imports of low-cost PPE. Price competition has forced many domestic companies to reduce their costs by outsourcing a large part of their production to other countries.

"Safety awareness and compliance could benefit from a more consistent level of regulatory enforcement in contract-oriented industries such as construction," said Frost & Sullivan Industry Analyst Roland Heinze. "Above-the-neck PPE has not been subject to any significant regulatory updates, which has reduced the integration of new features that can help promote higher pricing and compliance. This lack of product differentiation has also made locally produced goods vulnerable to competition from low-cost imports."

To remain competitive, companies are focusing on developing customizable and stylish products, increasing product variety, offering more services, and leveraging acquisitions to grow their global footprint, market shares and integrate technologies.

"Some manufacturers are now able to market themselves as one-stop shops for safety products. By increasing their penetration across all PPE markets, suppliers are able to lower transaction costs for end users and bundle full sets of PPE products," said Heinze. "A case in point is Sperian's Pro-System, which includes head, eye, face, and hearing protection. This benefits suppliers by allowing companies to either charge higher prices or sell larger volumes."

Strategic Analysis of the North American Above-the-neck PPE Market is part of the Chemicals, Materials & Food Growth Partnership Services program, which provides global Mega Trends, information on emerging markets and the latest technology innovations, market, economic, customer, competitive, and best practices research. This CEO 360 degree perspective will enable your company to effectively plan your strategies for growth. All research services included in subscriptions provide detailed market opportunities and industry trends that have been evaluated following extensive interviews with market participants.

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Strategic Analysis of the North American Above-the-neck PPE Market NC64-39