Across all industries, companies are being confronted with the growing significance of sustainable products, production and logistics processes. For the packaging and consumer goods industry, this subject will be of central importance in 2020 and present a challenge for the entire supply chain. As a world-leading manufacturer of adhesives, Henkel’s series of webinars this year will focus particularly on the subject of sustainability and share the company’s expertise in this area. The 2020 webinars include tried-and-trusted formats on subjects that have already changed the packaging industry over recent years, and which are now becoming even more important, such as circular economy or bio-based and biodegradable solutions.

With its PSA Academy, Henkel offers a comprehensive training course with theory and practical tuition for the industrial application of hotmelt pressure sensitive adhesives ‏(PSA). The program is directed at the professionals from all fields and industries working with pressure sensitive adhesives, such as machine operators, process engineers, laboratory staff as well as shift leaders, product developers, and quality control staff. The eight-day in-depth training course is divided into two sessions, scheduled from October 19 through 23 and November 23 through 25, 2020. The course is held in English.

• Henkel opens a new expanded Beauty Care production in the Moscow region with investments exceeding 20 million euros.
• The new plant has a capacity of more than 300 million units of finished products per year.
• It will become one of the largest cosmetics plants in Russia and Henkel’s second largest Beauty Care manufacturing facility in the world.

Henkel Adhesives Technologies has officially inaugurated its new production facility in Kurkumbh, India, near Pune. With a total investment of about 50 million Euro the business unit aims to serve the growing demand of Indian industries for high-performance solutions in adhesives, sealants and surface treatment products. Designed as a smart factory the new plant enables a wide range of Industry 4.0 operations and meets the highest standards for sustainability.

Henkel participates in the latest funding round of Fero Labs, a US-based start-up aiming to optimize industrial processes by using explainable machine learning. The investment is led by the company’s HenkelX Ventures unit, together with DIVC, a Munich-based B2B Tech investor. Henkel will support Fero Labs to grow its existing customer base while at the same time further leverage the potential of Industry 4.0 applications in its own production sites, as well as in joint business development together with clients and suppliers.

Since end of December 2019, the two and a half year’s integration phase of the Sonderhoff Group into Henkel AG & Co. KGaA has been completed.  As of January 1, 2020, all Sonderhoff companies have been merged into the Adhesive Technologies business unit. The former Sonderhoff sites in Germany, Austria, Italy and the USA are now also operating under the Henkel name - only the Sonderhoff site in China will continue to operate under its previous name. Customers will continue to be served from these locations as before.

Henkel has introduced Teroson EP 5020 TR, a two-component epoxy-based cold rebuilding material designed to replace conventional tin solder in aftermarket repairs of automotive body damages. Fast curing, easier to sand and smoother to apply than previous solutions, the material also eliminates the heat and open flame process required for tin soldered repairs.

For the 13th time running, Henkel recognized its top suppliers for their best-in-class performance in 2019 at the 2020 American Cleaning Institute ‏(ACI) Annual Meeting and Industry Convention, held from January 27th to February 2nd in Orlando, Florida. The partners were awarded prizes in five different categories.

NewPro3D recently joined Henkel’s Open Materials Platform with the goal of providing additive manufacturing solutions at production scale. Working collaboratively, the companies are combining their areas of focus to create next-level solutions for the medical industry. With Henkel’s expertise in materials and NewPro3D’s innovation in 3D printing equipment and software, the companies are enabling new applications in anatomical modeling, prosthetics and more.

Henkel has been designated as an “Advanced 4th Industrial Revolution Lighthouse” by the World Economic Forum ‏(WEF) for its state-of-the-art Laundry & Home Care factory in Düsseldorf, Germany. Thereby, Henkel becomes a member of the WEF’s “Global Lighthouse Network” with further leaders of advanced manufactures.