Henkel recognizes best-in-class performance of its strategic partners across the value chain

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. This year the companies Cabot, Clariant and Wanhua have been awarded in the three categories of Operational Excellence, Sustainability and Innovation.

“The close collaboration between Henkel and our strategic suppliers is a key success factor to drive value for our customers,” said Jan-Dirk Auris, Executive Vice President Henkel Adhesive Technologies. “Especially in today´s challenging times during the current COVID-19 pandemic our longstanding and robust partnerships are essential to ensure a strong pipeline for innovations and sustainability solutions based on resilient supply chains. This makes it even more important to recognize the efforts and achievements of our suppliers.”

Due to the current COVID-19 limitations the regular annual award ceremony usually held at the Henkel headquarters in Düsseldorf, Germany, was conducted digitally. For the first time ever, the event was expanded beyond Henkel´s global raw materials supplier and also included suppliers in the areas of logistics and packaging. “With the expansion of our strategic supplier program we want to set the foundation to build an even stronger ecosystem alongside our value chains. We believe that these partnerships can unlock new potentials to gain competitive advantages in the different markets we serve and to bring our business to next level.”

Innovation Award: Wanhua

Henkel has granted its Innovation Award to Wanhua, a world-class global player in polyurethanes, headquartered in Yantai, China. The collaboration based on open exchange and early access to innovations resulted in the largest pipeline of running innovation project across Henkel Adhesive Technologies. Based on innovative solutions of Wanhua, Henkel was able to launch several new products in the sports and fashion markets and for packaging applications. Wanhua was recognized for its creativity, agility and customer focus, which are proven also by regular digital learning sessions for Henkel’s innovation teams. “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 spirit of the Wanhua teams we have been able to launch some real game-changer innovations in focus markets around the globe.”

Operational Excellence Award: Cabot

Henkel has presented its Operational Excellence Award to Cabot Corporation, an American specialty chemicals and performance materials company headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts. The recognition was granted for Cabot´s outstanding supply performance as well as the companies´ ongoing efforts to ensure the competitiveness in an increasingly challenging market environment. Cabot has delivered an excellent service level with best in class „On-Time“ and „In-Full“ scores. In addition, the company demonstrated its strong commitment to partnership by excellent collaboration on material qualification for the automotive industry.  “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 tailor-made and meaningful solutions”, explained Thomas Holenia, Corporate Vice President Purchasing at Henkel. “In the collaboration with Cabot we focused on aligned strategic priorities, which help making our joint supply chains more agile and resilient – a key success factor, especially in today’s challenging and volatile market environment.”

Sustainability Award: Clariant

Henkel has presented its Sustainability Award to Clariant, a specialty chemicals company headquartered in Muttenz, Switzerland. In 2020, the company demonstrated excellent support and showed the best contribution to Henkel’s sustainability targets and ambitions. The recognition was granted also for Clariant´s achievements to develop innovative solutions with health and safety benefits. The strong partnership between both companies was characterized by an open exchange with focus on sustainable innovations. “Sustainability has become a megatrend across the different markets we serve and we see a major increase of customer demands for solutions with regards to CO₂-reduction, circular economy and health and safety,” explained Christian Kirsten, Corporate Senior Vice President and Global Head of the Automotive and Metals business at Henkel. “Clariant has demonstrated a strong commitment to support our targets and to further grow with sustainable solutions.”