Henkel opens new European hub for aerospace solutions

With the investment of about €35 million, the company aims to serve the constantly growing demand for high-performance solutions supporting key trends in the global aerospace industry such as light weighting, fuel efficiency and automation. During the opening event Henkel welcomed the mayor of Montornès and the German Counsel General as well as customers and presented the state-of-the-art building meeting the highest standards for sustainability.

“Aerospace is a very attractive growth market for us, because the global demand for new passenger aircrafts is expected to double over the next 20 years,” explained Jan-Dirk Auris, executive vice-president Henkel Adhesive Technologies. “With the new high-tech facility, we significantly expand the capacities for our leading high-impact solutions that are specified on all major aircraft platforms and increase our capabilities to develop next-generation materials for future programs. At the same time, we enlarge our global production and distribution network and enhance the proximity to our strong customer base in Europe.”

Henkel Adhesive Technologies is developing and supplying engineering materials, such as structural adhesives and surface treatment technologies, for global aircraft manufacturers and tier one suppliers in the industry for more than 40 years. Through close customer collaboration and involvement as early as the design phase, the company offers added value across the entire value chain. This ranges from material development and qualification all the way through the assembly and manufacturing processes at the customers’ sites. The company’s high-impact solutions respond to some of the major industry trends enabling modern lightweight constructions for higher fuel efficiency and increased comfort. In addition, Henkel’s materials and know-how enable aerospace manufacturers to further automate production processes and accelerate their output.

The new aerospace plant in Montornès is located nearby the existing adhesives production plant for the automotive industry. It features dedicated production, labs, offices and warehouse capacities and spreads out over an area of about 14,000m². It is equipped with state-of-the-art technologies to ensure traceability and transparency for customers and to exceed the high standards for quality and safety in the industry.

Designed as a smart operations site, the facility uses latest Industry 4.0 technology for collaborative engineering and manufacturing execution. In addition to excellent logistical connections it is ideally located to serve several production clusters of the leading aerospace key customers. The new plant will become Henkel’s European hub for the aerospace industry and will increase the capabilities for global customers as well.

The new plant also meets the highest standards for sustainability. Thanks to a holistic concept including the use of renewable energies and smart technologies for equipment and infrastructure it will be the first production building in Spain with the golden DGNB certification. After the ramp-up phase the first customer deliveries of the new facility are planned for Q4 2019.

www.henkel.com