Henkel Adhesive Technologies recently recognized the performance of its strategic partners with its Supplier Awards 2022. With these annual recognitions, Henkel honors the close and successful collaboration across its value chains. This year, BASF, Wanhua, and Wacker have been awarded in the three categories of Sustainability, Innovation, and Operational Excellence. In addition, Henkel for the first time granted a Special Recognition to Dow Chemicals for extraordinary support during a special project.

“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 Jan-Dirk Auris, executive vice president Henkel Adhesive Technologies. “Especially in today's volatile markets characterized by a strong pressure on the global supply chains, our longstanding and robust partnerships are of utmost importance for our business success. We want to thank all our suppliers for their strong commitment during the past year and aim to recognize extraordinary efforts and outstanding achievements with our awards ceremony.”

After two years of COVID-19 limitations, the award ceremony was again conducted in-person at the Henkel headquarters in Düsseldorf, Germany. Adhesive Technologies invited its strategic partners into the new Inspiration Center. During the ceremony, Adhesive Technologies also presented its Sustainability Ambition 2030 and provided deep dives on key initiatives to reduce its own footprint, as well as on activities supporting customers to reduce their CO2 footprint and to drive a circular economy.

Sustainability Award: BASF

Henkel presented its Sustainability Award to BASF SE, a chemical company in the field of polymer dispersions and additives for coating, construction, and adhesive application headquartered in Ludwigshafen/Rhine, Germany. Henkel explained BASF demonstrated outstanding performance and strong commitment towards the common sustainability goals–circular economy, zero pollution, and enhanced safety during 2022. According to Henkel, BASF has continuously enhanced the joint portfolio of sustainable innovations and has broadened its certified sustainable offering for Henkel. The company strongly supported Henkel's sustainability agenda by providing expert upskilling on biodiversity, various workshops, webinars, and collaboration proposals during 2022.

“Over the past years we have seen a massive increase of customer demands for solutions enabling emission reduction, circularity, and safety,” explained Ulla Hüppe, head of Sustainability for Adhesive Technologies at Henkel. “BASF 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.”

Innovation Award: Wanhua

Henkel granted its Innovation Award to Wanhua, a global supplier of chemical products headquartered in Yantai, China. Henkel says the company has continuously demonstrated innovation partnership over the past year. In 2022, the collaboration resulted in the largest innovation pipeline and enabled Henkel to launch new products in the sports and fashion and industrial electronics markets. Henkel and Wanhua successfully piloted new digital ways of working to accelerate joint innovation and proved that pandemic is no boundary to effective collaboration, which were characterized by early access to innovation and resulted in best-in-class innovations for customers.

“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.”

Operational Excellence Award: Wacker

Henkel presented its Operational Excellence Award to Wacker Chemie AG, a technological solutions provider in the chemical industry headquartered in Munich, Germany. Henkel recognized Wacker for its outstanding supply performance in an unprecedented market environment. The company has achieved a constant top-tier service level with excellent scores in on-time and in-full delivery. In addition, Henkel says Wacker showed strong commitment toward joint supply chain resilience by conducting a value chain workshop and defining joint risk mitigation strategies. According to Henkel, the strong partnership was characterized by demonstrating common development activities and opportunity identification initiatives.

“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”, explained Thomas Holenia, corporate vice president purchasing at Henkel. “Wacker provided best-in-class service levels for Henkel, despite all logistics challenges in 2022. The collaboration was characterized by aligned strategic priorities, which help make our joint supply chains more agile and resilient.”

Special Recognition: Dow

In 2022, Henkel Adhesive Technologies for the first time presented a Special Recognition to Dow Chemical. This recognition was granted for what Henkel considers to be extraordinary support during a special project, which has underlined and further reinforced the strong and long-lasting partnership between the companies.

For more information, visit: www.henkel.com.