DELO Industrial Adhesives is a company on the move. Founded in Munich, Germany, in 1961, DELO currently manufacturers high-tech adhesives and multi-functional materials, as well as dispensing and curing equipment to the automotive, consumer electronics, and semiconductor industries. In its 63 years of being in business, the company has expanded to have subsidiaries in China, Japan, Singapore, Malaysia, and the United States. Privately held by partners Sabine and Dr. Wolf Herold, DELO has grown from a staff of 350 employees in 2013, to a staff of 1,080 employees at the end of its 2023 fiscal year, with additional growth anticipated in 2024.

DELO is committed to investing in the future, with 15% of total revenue of the company spent on research and development. Such a commitment is one reason for the company’s growth and success, as DELO reports that almost 20% of its revenues come from products that are less than three years old.

Torsten Uske, president DELO US, shared his thoughts about DELO’s growth and success and what he sees for the future of the industry in 2024 and 2025.

ASI: To what do you attribute DELO’s growth and success, particularly given the significant challenges of the last five years?

Torsten Uske: It really all comes down to our strategic approach towards doing things, zeroing in on a particular sector — in our case, the consumer electronics, automotive, and semiconductor industries — and investing ourselves in every detail from cradle to grave. For example, 15 percent of our total revenues can be found in our R&D alone, which is approximately four times the industry average. We work with our customers hands-on and heed to their every request, be it particular modifications to an adhesive’s properties or testing a product in ultra-specific scenarios. We do all of this while maintaining a global presence, which benefits many of our larger global customers.

ASI: Can you talk about the company’s recent activities within the United States? How do they align with the company’s goals?

Uske: Many things have been happening stateside in our efforts to invest in our national customer base and maintain our global presence. Last year, we greatly expanded our facilities at our Boston location, gaining an entire floor of office space, a bigger workshop space with more features that enable more intricate product testing, and an overhauled warehouse for increased logistics capabilities. We also upped our office space at our San Jose location so we can be more available to customers from coast to coast.

ASI: What are your expectations for the adhesive and sealant industry through the remainder of 2024 and into 2025?

Uske: From what we hear coming from the industries we serve, we believe the future has many positive things in store for us. You see, we base part of our outlook for the future on our customers’ predictions, which have been difficult to gauge since the pandemic. So much has been happening — optimism and pessimism have both come in waves from customers across the globe. Not to mention, in the midst of it all, the quick rise and integration of AI across a vast number of applications by some of the biggest names in tech gives us even more to think about. But it is precisely all this activity that makes us feel positively about what’s ahead.

ASI: What challenges do you think adhesive and sealant manufacturers will face in the future?

Uske: As participants of what is ultimately a global industry, when we see trade conflicts like the one between the US and China that have taken place as of late, we worry about what that means for the future, optimistic as we may be.

We also make a concerted effort to be a part of the technological innovations that shape our future, which requires us to keep constant tabs on industry developments. To do this while conducting our own R&D in parallel with our customers is another challenge. Electronics miniaturization, for example, is taking place at what seems like lightning speed. We must make sure we develop our equipment to meet these evolving requirements as they do so.

In addition, we’ve been focusing a lot on temperature resistance, which has raised the bar for many applications. But when you think about debonding, which is slowly becoming an important factor for customers, the challenge ahead for the adhesive industry here is finding a way to combine adhesive durability and the ability for the fixation to be neatly and cleanly undone.

Finally, being a materials manufacturer, sustainability is a crucial topic in which we must excel. However, doing this no longer means merely using less harmful raw materials, for example. There are lots of certifications and criteria we must also consider if we really want to reduce our environmental impact. To work at this constantly only adds to the long list of things we must already do to ensure product quality. But at this point in time, it is no less vital.

To learn more about DELO, visit www.delo-adhesives.com.