SHANGHAI—Henkel A.G. and Co. recently inaugurated what it says is the world's largest adhesives factory.
The company said its new production facility in Shanghai, known as the "Dragon Plant" at Henkel, is designed to expand its capacity into a major emerging market and will deliver its adhesive technologies more quickly to the growing number of customers in China and the Asia-Pacific region.
The facility is more than 1.6 million square feet and is the central production site for industrial adhesives in China and the Asia-Pacific region. The annual capacity will be 428,000 metric tons. Customers being served by the new adhesives plant include the automotive industry and various consumer goods sectors.
Henkel said the facility will contribute to its achievement of its 2016 strategy by enabling its adhesives business to expand, increase its global reach and gain larger shares of emerging markets.
Henkel will be concentrating its existing adhesives production operations in the greater Shanghai region at the new site in the Shanghai Chemical Industry Park, part of the company's ongoing program to consolidate and optimize its global production network.
About 600 will work at the facility, which costs nearly $68 million to build.
According to Henkel, the "Dragon Plant" will use less water because of its condensed water recovery systems. Electricity usage for factory lighting has been cut by 90 percent due to special translucent roofs, which let daylight in. There is also a system for recovering waste heat, and the factory includes filling equipment designed to prevent leaks and spills of adhesives.
Henkel, founded in 1876, operates in three business areas: laundry and home care; beauty care; and adhesive technologies.