Henkel opened what it claims is the world’s largest adhesives factory in Shanghai to serve the auto industry and various consumer goods producers. Annual output is forecast to reach 428,000 metric tons of adhesives.
Henkel has invested more than €50 million in the plant that will employ about 600 people. With this factory, Henkel, already the world’s largest adhesives manufacturer, is responding to the rising demand for industrial adhesives in China and the entire Asia-Pacific region.
China is already the largest car market in the world, with a rapidly expanding domestic production base, because of its industrial policy that forces automakers to build there. China is also one of the major producers of sports equipment and electronic products. In these and other industries, adhesive use is increasing because they make the products lighter, thereby increasing their performance.
Henkel employs 47,000 people and reported sales of €16,510 million, with an operating profit of €2,335 million in fiscal 2012.
About Ken Zino
Ken Zino, editor and publisher of AutoInformed, is a versatile auto industry participant with global experience spanning decades in print and broadcast journalism, as well as social media. He has automobile testing, marketing, public relations and communications experience. He is past president of The International Motor Press Assn, the Detroit Press Club, founding member and first President of the Automotive Press Assn. He is a member of APA, IMPA and the Midwest Automotive Press Assn.
He also brings an historical perspective while citing their contemporary relevance of the work of legendary auto writers such as Ken Purdy, Jim Dunne or Jerry Flint, or writers such as Red Smith, Mark Twain, Thomas Jefferson – all to bring perspective to a chaotic automotive universe.
Above all, decades after he first drove a car, Zino still revels in the sound of the exhaust as the throttle is blipped during a downshift and the driver’s rush that occurs when the entry, apex and exit points of a turn are smoothly and swiftly crossed. It’s the beginning of a perfect lap.
AutoInformed has an editorial philosophy that loves transportation machines of all kinds while promoting critical thinking about the future use of cars and trucks.
Zino builds AutoInformed from his background in automotive journalism starting at Hearst Publishing in New York City on Motor and MotorTech Magazines and car testing where he reviewed hundreds of vehicles in his decade-long stint as the Detroit Bureau Chief of Road & Track magazine. Zino has also worked in Europe, and Asia – now the largest automotive market in the world with China at its center.
