The future – made by Henkel

Since 1982, Henkel has been challenging its employees to strive for the Fritz Henkel Award for Innovation by creating and commercializing new product ideas. To win the award, named after Company founder Fritz Henkel (1848-1930), the ideas must show both a high degree of innovation and proven market success. From the many proposals submitted each year, just one team from each of the three operative business sectors is selected to receive this honor for its achievements.

“Henkel actively and systematically encourages and rewards innovations. This has generated an extremely fruitful innovation culture throughout the entire Company,” said Albrecht Woeste, Chairman of the Shareholders’ Committee and the Supervisory Board of Henkel KGaA, and Ulrich Lehner, chairman of the Management Board, at the award ceremony in Düsseldorf. Speaking in unison, they stressed that “the innovative drive of our employees is a vital factor that not only determines the quality of our products, but also ensures Henkel’s long-term and vigorous success in international markets.”

The innovation stars of 2007 at Henkel are:

• Persil 100 – Better than ever: To mark its centenary in 2007, Germany’s most successful laundry detergent was completely reinvented, from the formulations and packaging design to the marketing concept, rendering it younger and more vital in appearance than any of its competitors.
• Taft Volume Power: With this innovative product line, the successful Taft hair styling brand offers up to 100 percent more hair volume from the roots up, thus fulfilling a main wish of European consumers.
• Terokal Structural Adhesives: Novel structural adhesives for car bodies based on resilient nanoparticles meet the stringent specifications of the automotive industry, withstanding crash tests at temperatures ranging from -40 to +90 degrees Celsius.

The Fritz Henkel Award for Innovation was presented on Henkel Innovation Day. This day, which will be celebrated annually from now on, has been introduced by the Company as a special inspiration to its 53,000 employees around the world to remember the vital importance of innovations. Appealing to each individual employee as a contributor to the success of the Company, Lehner said: “We are asking all of our employees to take the time every now and again to think about what they can do to help Henkel become even more innovative. It doesn’t always have to be a big idea. Each single suggestion for improvement, no matter how little, helps to secure the overall future of our Company. And this is why we say: Let’s innovate!”

More information on the award-winning innovations can be found in the attachment.