Henkel to Drive Innovative Footwear Technologies With New Application Center in India

Henkel officially opened its new application center on 6 March, in Vellore, India, marking the debut of its first Center of Excellence in the region. The new center will serve as a beacon of Henkel’s latest sustainable adhesive solutions for the sports industry, especially for footwear automation, and enable Henkel to drive innovation towards manufacturing excellence.

“Henkel is committed to improving people’s living spaces and style with high-impact, sustainable solutions. We have placed a particular focus on sustainability in the Indian market, and our investment is aligned with the goals of the Indian Footwear and Leather Development Programme (IFLDP),” said Dr. Rajat Agarwal, Global Head of Lifestyle at Henkel Adhesive Technologies, “With novel solutions, we enable customers to achieve sustainability targets and purposeful growth. This new center will further enable us to support the development of the footwear sector in terms of productivity, employment, and sustainability, ultimately contributing to India’s economic upgrading.”

Henkel is constantly expanding its global innovation footprint to better adapt to ever-changing market trends. The application center in Vellore will be a part of Henkel’s global network of application, product development, and design centers across different countries, including China, Indonesia, and Vietnam. By leveraging state-of-the-art facilities, Henkel will scale competence for innovation and digitalization, allowing more agility to speed up time-to-market.

Driving Innovation Through Leading Technologies and Facilities

The sports industry currently faces three major challenges – increasing demands for more sustainable production processes, rising labor costs, and production safety. Henkel enables customers to address these challenges with a diverse technology portfolio that includes solutions of toluene-free, water-based, and PUR hotmelt automation etc.

The new application center fully displays Henkel’s industry-leading solutions with advanced facilities and machines that facilitate testing and trials, with solid future-oriented projects already in the pipeline. It offers a platform for labs and factories to exchange technologies ideation and validation. 

Accelerating Sports Industry With ESG and Driving Purposeful Growth

With the purpose “Pioneers at Heart for the Good of Generations”, Henkel endeavors to take the initiative in three pillars – environmental, social and governance (ESG) – to drive purposeful growth for the industry. Amid Industry 4.0 and digitalization transformation, the footwear sector demands for a higher quality labor force. Together with India’s Government and academies, Henkel will roll out further workforce development projects to equip personnel with automation expertise and a future-oriented mindset, promoting a skilled and world-leading workforce ecosystem for the industry, and adding impetus to local employment. 

As Henkel continues to drive innovative solutions, it has also defined the intention of sustainable fashion – to reduce the impact on the environment and enrich the value of footwear and apparel. With its vision “Less Taken, More Given,” the Sports and Fashion team at Henkel Adhesive Technologies is dedicated to creating value for the environment and society with industry-leading sustainable solutions. In the future, Henkel will work more closely with industry partners, combining its expert knowledge with chemical expertise to create long-lasting advantages for future needs.