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-Years 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.”
The award ceremony took place at the Henkel Adhesive Technologies Inspiration Center in Düsseldorf. On the occasion of the 10th anniversary of the Supplier Awards the business unit also presented an additional special recognition to Dow.
“Our strategic supplier program is a key differentiator to win across the different markets we serve,” Dorn added. “With our 10 Years Partnership Award we want to explicitly honour a successful longstanding collaboration across many different businesses and projects. Dow has been an integral part of the program from the very beginning and the partnership has resulted in extraordinary results across all categories year by year.”
Sustainability Award: Kraton
Henkel has presented its Sustainability Award to Kraton, a global specialty chemical supplier that manufacturers polymers and renewable chemicals derived from pine by-products that deliver innovative and sustainable solutions, headquartered in Housten, Texas, USA. In 2023, the company demonstrated strong commitment to supporting Henkel in the transformation to increase the sustainability performance of the product portfolio in the packaging and consumer goods business area, which also resulted in the reduction of Henkel’s carbon footprint. In addition, Kraton as a market leader in pursuing certified mass balanced alternatives granted access to natural-based raw materials. 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,” explained 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.”
Innovation Award: Wanhua
Henkel has granted its Innovation Award to Wanhua, a global leading supplier of innovative chemical products headquartered in Yantai, China. 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 have in addition piloted a new business model to further optimize customization and agility in today's dynamic marketplaces. The collaboration was characterized by early access to innovation which resulted in best-in-class innovations for Henkel’s 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: Kolon
Henkel has presented its Operational Excellence Award to Kolon Industries, a chemical and textile manufacturing company based in Seoul, Korea. 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. Henkel especially appreciated the exceptional support in the currently challenging environments that has significantly contributed to focus on value creation and top-line development.
“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 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.”
10 Years Partnership Award: Dow
Since the inception in 2013, Dow Chemical Company, an American multinational corporation headquartered in Midland, Michigan, USA, has been an integral part of Henkel´s strategic supplier program. Since then, the company has contributed to a broad variety of challenges in all three categories which resulted in the recognition of different awards over the past years. In the category of Innovation Dow has supported a sustained expansion of Henkel´s innovation portfolio in traditional business areas as well as in the exploration of opportunities in new business arenas. In Operational Excellence the company has consistently prioritized Henkel demands during supply and market disruptions. In the category of Sustainability Dow has been a pioneer in developing and collaborating in novel approaches for a more sustainable product portfolio.
“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.”
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