Henkel AG (Düsseldorf, Germany) announced the expansion of its operations in Salisbury, North Carolina. This expansion of Henkel’s existing site brings a new 10,000 square foot, state-of-the-art production area for UV-curable acrylic pressure sensitive adhesives (PSA) and broadens the company’s capabilities to provide more sustainable and innovative PSA solutions to the tape, label, medical, and graphics films markets to meet increasing demand.
Henkel has made several investments in North America in 2022, including the acquisitions of Boston-based businesses Nanoramic Thermal-Management Materials and NPD Nanotechnoloiges, and the launch of new facilities in Mexico and California, and the expansion of manufacturing capacity in South Dakota.
Henkel’s Adhesive Technologies business completed the expansion of its Salisbury, North Carolina plant to support increasing customer demand for UV-curable acrylic pressure sensitive adhesives for the packaging and consumer goods markets. (Source: Henkel)
“The new production area at the Salisbury facility is a major investment for Henkel and represents the first large-scale UV hotmelt production plant outside of Europe, creating a tremendous resource for our customers in North America,” said Bruno Motta, Global Project Manager, UV Hot Melt Pressure Sensitive Adhesives at Henkel. “Being closer to our customers brings supply chain efficiencies and offers additional collaboration opportunities to develop customized, innovative solutions for their high performance and high value applications.”
UV-curable hot melt adhesives address changing market needs and enhance the customer experience. They are designed to coat a variety of facestocks, serving all segments of traditional pressure sensitive markets. Branded as LOCTITE DURO-TAK UV, Henkel offers a comprehensive set of adhesive chemistries from this new facility, designing its own polymers and providing different types of curing systems. Unique to Henkel, cationic cured UV PSAs utilize a novel curing mechanism, allowing for lower energy consumption and through-cure of extremely high coat weights (more than double that of traditional curing systems).
“The investment in Henkel’s Salisbury operation has created a one-of-a-kind facility dedicated to efficiently meeting the growing demand of our customers,” said Gary Rzonca, Senior Vice President, Packaging and Consumer Goods, Henkel North America. “Henkel’s UV-curable acrylic PSA technology expands our solvent-free hot melt production and bridges a market gap with an innovative alternative to solution acrylic adhesives, helping our customers achieve their sustainability objectives and creating new market opportunities with a customized approach. We are grateful for the support of our valued partners and our dedicated employees who have made this new facility a reality.”
Henkel’s Salisbury facility manufactures adhesives under the leading brand LOCTITE used extensively in the packaging, consumer goods and electronics markets. The Salisbury plant became part of the Henkel manufacturing network in 2008 following the company’s acquisition of the National Starch adhesives business. The site has more than 217,000 sq. ft. of production space, including the new UV acrylics operation, and employs 230 employees with 20 jobs expected to be added in 2023. Henkel’s significant investment in Salisbury was announced in July 2019, followed by the start of construction in August 2020.