Henkel Adhesive Technologies has awarded the performance of its strategic partners with its annual Supplier Awards. With these recognitions the business unit honors the close and successful collaboration across its value chains for the 10th consecutive year. In 2023 Adhesive Technologies has awarded the companies Kraton, Wanhua, and Kolon in the three standard categories of sustainability, innovation, and operational excellence, and, in addition, presented a special 10-year partnership award to Dow.

“The close collaboration with our strategic suppliers and partners is a key success factor to drive sustainable innovations and to generate value for our customers,” said Mark Dorn, executive vice president, Henkel Adhesive Technologies. “The market environments have been characterized by increasing extraordinary pressure on the global supply chains for years now. Thus, our longstanding and robust partnerships with our strategic suppliers are of utmost importance for our business success. We want to thank all of them for their strong commitment during the past year and look forward to continuing close collaboration in the future.”

Henkel presented its Sustainability Award to Kraton. In 2023, the company demonstrated strong commitment to supporting Henkel in the transformation to increase the sustainability performance of packaging and consumer goods. Kraton also holds the top position among peers in Henkel´s ‘Together-for-Sustainability’ EcoVadis rating and proactively collaborated to stay ahead of the evolving regulatory environment around the globe.

“Sustainability without a doubt has become the major topic across all different markets and industries we serve,” said Ulla Hüppe, head of Sustainability for Adhesive Technologies at Henkel. “Over the past years we have seen a massive increase of customer demands for solutions enabling emission reduction, circularity, and safety. Kraton shares our deep commitment to drive transformative change and has demonstrated strong contributions that support our ambitious sustainability targets and that are essential to create value for our customers.”

The Innovation Award was given to Wanhua. The company has continuously demonstrated innovation partnership over the past years, resulting in the largest innovation pipeline across multiple business areas. The performance enabled Henkel to launch a variety of new products across the markets of sports & fashion, electronics, metal, and paper. In 2023, Henkel and Wanhua piloted a new business model to further optimize customization and agility in today`s dynamic marketplaces.

“The know-how and performance of our strategic suppliers play a key role for us in the development of groundbreaking innovations,” said Michael Todd, global head of Innovation and New Business Development at Henkel Adhesive Technologies. “Thanks to the openness and the close collaboration of the Wanhua teams, we have been able to launch some real game-changer innovations in focus markets and will continue to benefit from the strong innovation pipeline in the future.”

Henkel presented its Operational Excellence Award to Kolon Industries. The recognition was granted for the company´s constant efforts to improve its global supply chain network. This resulted in a consistent track record of outstanding "On Time" and "In Full" delivery scores and quality management rates in 2023, significantly enhancing bottom-line efficiencies and productivity. 

“The close cooperation and open exchange with our strategic suppliers throughout the entire value chain enable us to translate the needs and expectations of our customers into impactful solutions”, said Johannes Legrand, corporate senior vice president, Operations and Supply Chain at Henkel Adhesive Technologies. “Kolon provided best-in-class service levels for Henkel, despite all logistics challenges in 2023. The collaboration was characterized by aligned strategic priorities, which help making our joint supply chains more agile and resilient.”

Since the inception in 2013, Dow Chemical Company has been an integral part of Henkel´s strategic supplier program. Dow has contributed to a broad variety of challenges in all three categories which resulted in the recognition of different awards over the past years. 

“Dow has been a key partner since we have started our program more than 10 years ago,” said Thomas Holenia, corporate vice president, Purchasing at Henkel. “Throughout the years, the partnership has not only focused on excellence in all key categories of the program – Sustainability, Innovation and Operational Excellence — Dow has also significantly contributed to a variety of special projects such as the outstanding support within a major M&A integration for us.”

To learn more, visit www.henkel.com.