Start Your Apex Exosuit Pilot

A Step-By-Step Guide to a Successful Apex Pilot Program at Your Facility

Step 1 – Reach Out to Us

To get the ball rolling or learn more about a pilot program, contact us here. Under “How Can HeroWear Help You Today?”, select “I’m Interested in Purchasing”. We will reach out within a few business days and walk you through the ordering process.

Step 2 – How Many Suits?

How many Apexes are you piloting for your team? We can work with any number you’d like to start with. It’s common for some workers to be resistant to new tech, so make sure you have a large enough sample size to get a good range of reactions.

We recommend starting with a pilot program with around 10-15% of the workforce at a facility. It’s important to collect a large enough sample size, and helps testers not feel isolated during the pilot. It’s a bonus if they are all working in the same area, too.

Step 3 – Let Your Team Know

This is a critical step in successful implementation. Before you even recieve the Apexes, make sure your team knows you’re piloting an exosuit to make their work easier and help them feel less tired. This builds anticipation and excitement, and really helps with adoption and buy-in.

Don’t forget to tell the testers why you are introducing the exosuit to your facility. Explaining the benefits of injury risk reduction and improved quality of life can really help acceptance.

Step 4 – We’ll Send You Background Info

Be on the lookout for some valuable information – such as on-site posters to help you announce the pilot, and fit guides to help you size your team. We’ll send these before shipping the Apexes. Also, instructional, training, and general knowledge documents can be found here.

Step 5 – We’ll Help with Implementation

Our experts have been through so many implementations, which means we know common missteps that can be avoided that would have prevented a successful adoption. We offer full on-site training (preferred for best results) or virtual training to walk everybody through proper implementation of the Apex. It’s important supervisors and shift leaders are properly trained on fit and adjustments, so they can train users to get the best results.

Proper fit is a massively important factor in your workers getting the most out of the Apex. Having someone on the ground who can help with fit adjustments is key.

Step 6 – Make Sure You’re Documenting

During the pilot process, make sure you are properly documenting the progress. That could be measuring productivity and talking with the workers to see how they’re feeling in the middle and at the end of their shift. Even before users are trained, record baseline survey data about your team’s work-related discomfort and other factors to be measured.

Gather mid-point and final survey data to compare. If you’re having HeroWear help with a full Field Study, we can gather and process all survey data and perform exit interviews. We will then package up the results, including comparisons to industry baselines, so you can share them with leadership and the rest of your workers to help get internal buy-in.

Step 7 – Give It Some Time

Ideally, your workers will notice the difference right away and feel better after a shift. However, it’s important to make sure the pilot runs for long enough to get a proper sample size.

We recommend you run your pilot program for 4-6 weeks. In less than 4 weeks, your team may not have fully adjusted to the Apex and seen the full benefits. Any longer than 6 weeks, results rarely show new information.

Step 8 – Ordering More Suits

If you’re happy with the results with the Apex (and you will be!), reach back out to us (Step 1) about ordering more suits to help protect a bigger population of your workers. Note: Volume discounts kick in for any orders over 24 Apexes, and we have options for companies that deal with high worker turnover and need to quickly resize suits to fit new workers.