From little things big things grow. That was certainly the case for Eric Norman Ansell whose company was born out of a condom-making machine.
He was called upon in 1905 to dismantle such a machine at the Dunlop Pneumatic Tyre Company in Melbourne, Australia, after it decided to stop condom production. Ansell saw an opportunity and made the most of it, setting up the machine in his small, rented house nearby.
The expanding Ansell business started to manufacture balloons in 1919 and surgical, household and work safety gloves in 1925.
Eric Ansell’s two sons, Lloyd and Harvey, soon joined the business and went on to jointly run the company for more than 40 years.
During World War II, the Ansell Rubber Company increased its research into synthetic rubber to produce gas masks, surgeon’s gloves and meteorological balloons in support of the war effort.
1950 to 1969
- Harvey and Lloyd perfect a largely automated machine which produces 450 gloves an hour, making the slow process of manually dipping and drying the safety gloves virtually obsolete.
- Brian Ansell, son of Lloyd, travels to Europe to investigate new markets. He appoints sales agents in Norway, Iceland, Sweden, Germany, Holland, Belgium, Switzerland and Italy.
- In 1960 Ansell makes its first acquisition, NuTex, the company’s main Australian competitor.
- Harvey Ansell creates the world’s first disposable surgical glove.
- Ansell is bought by Dunlop Australia (formerly Pacific Dunlop - now Ansell Limited) in 1969.
1970 to 1989
- The international Ansell sales team racks up record orders. On their first visit to South Korea, Ansell receives an order for a million safety gloves.
- With delays in shipping products from Australia, Ansell opens a plant in Melaka, Malaysia, close to where the latex is harvested.
- In 1974 sales are $12.2 million, rising to $28.6 million in 1979.
- New factories are built in Sri Lanka and Thailand.
- With the acquisition of Akwell in Alabama in 1981, Ansell becomes the world’s premier medical gloves manufacturer in the world and a major supplier of condoms.
- Ansell purchases Pacific Polymers in Oregon in 1983, Apair Gloves in the UK in 1984 and plants in Mexico, Germany, France, Malaysia and the United States in 1986.
- In 1989 Ansell purchases Edmont, increasing the size of the company by 50 per cent. That same year, due to the tyranny of distance, Ansell closes plant operations in Australia.
1990 to now
- The company adds CPP, Labortoire Degan, Perry, and Golden Needles Knitting to its corporate family.
- Company headquarters are moved to Red Bank, New Jersey, in 1997 to be close to many of its operations.
- Ansell creates health consulting services, helping healthcare administrators improve their efficiency in buying safety gloves.
-
Establishes AnsellCares, a research program into latex sensitivity and the education of the wider medical community on this.
For more information about Ansell’s history, see our Detailed History. For shareholder information, visit www.ansell.com
Ansell safety glove products:
View Ansell safety gloves catalogue online
Get catalogue pdf printable download
Need help from Ansell experts:
Bovis Lend Lease
Success Stories
“We now have implemented a safety program that provides different protective gloves specifically selected for construction tasks. With thousands of tradespeople employed nationally on our building sites, the incidence of hand injuries has been significantly reduced.”
Peter Marix-Evans
Head of Environment Health and Safety