Global number one through innovation, performance and sustainability
Our products serve many different markets, such as the automotive, electronics, aerospace, metal and packaging industries, the development of alternative sources of energy, and for maintenance, repair and overhaul. They help to make industrially manufactured goods more durable, lighter and more efficient. Our adhesives know-how also helps to protect buildings against cold and dampness and to repair items of daily use, while our glues and tapes are much appreciated in the home, in schools and in offices. The key consideration, however, is always that of combining economic benefits for our customers with responsibility toward people and the environment.

Generating added value for our customers
For us, sustainability is not an end in itself, but generates value for our company and for our customers. It gives us a competitive advantage when it creates economic, ecological or social benefits for our customers as well. We offer our customers first-class performance while simultaneously helping them to operate sustainably throughout their value chain. One of the ways we do this is by developing products that make production processes considerably more efficient than conventional solutions. Our Loctite brand maintenance and repair products, for example, can extend machine lifetimes. Technologies such as Bonderite NT, TecTalis, Aquence Co-Cure and Alodine for metal pretreatment cut energy and wastewater costs in processing lines and reduce the use of heavy metals. Our water-based solvent-free adhesives for athletic shoes help to significantly improve workplace health and environmental protection levels in athletic footwear production facilities.

We have developed numerous tools to demonstrate the advantages of our innovations transparently to our customers. One of these is the Value Calculator, which enables customers to include not only the price of the product in their cost calculations, but also the potential savings it can achieve in their process. Our customers can then calculate the economic and ecological benefits they gain by using our products. The Value Calculator is currently available for more than 30 brands, including Bonderite, TecTalis, and Macroplast.

Improvements based on analyses and discussions among specialists
Product innovations and systematic reviews of our product portfolio help to continuously improve the performance of our products and technologies. Here we draw on our years of experience with life cycle analyses to identify suitable starting points for improvements. For many years, we have pursued a policy of steadily replacing heavy metals in our products. We also substitute solvents with high-performing alternatives that make it possible to offer water-based and ultraviolet-crosslinking formulations. To optimize product characteristics, our researchers also make use of renewable resources. These form the central basis of our glue sticks, wallpaper adhesives and many packaging adhesives. The proportion contained in our bottle labeling adhesives, for example, is 45 percent. And the formulation of the Pritt Stick is based 90 percent on nature-based raw materials. But the composition of our own products is not the only area where improvements can be achieved: New product solutions can modify or improve the type of application and the production processes at our customers’ facilities. Our solutions are therefore based on a thorough understanding of our customers’ needs and are often generated by working as a team with customers, equipment manufacturers, and raw materials suppliers.

User safety through dialogue, advice and training
Our understanding of quality does not stop with the development and sale of high-performance products. We offer service and advice throughout the world for customers. By sharing our technical know-how and competence, our main aim is to help our customers to use our products efficiently and safely. Our chemicals management concept in the USA, for example, helps them with the selection, processing and disposal of chemicals. The Henkel ProControl system – a measuring unit that is installed directly in production lines – allows our customers to precisely monitor adhesive consumption rates. With our Technomelt Supra Cool 130 hotmelt adhesive for industrial packaging, this can in some cases reduce the amount of adhesive that is applied by almost half. In Central and Eastern Europe, Ceresit training centers teach craftsmen how best to use our building products. In many markets, such as China, the United Arab Emirates, Brazil and the USA, Henkel is also a member of the national Green Building Council. The aim of this multi-stakeholder platform is to raise awareness and promote the development of standards for sustainable building methods and products.

Product examples
The following list provides a variety of product examples, which can be sorted according to their contributions to our focal areas. The brands referred to have been selected on the basis of their innovativeness, their relevance, and the way in which they reflect the work of the business unit: