DÜSSELDORF, Germany — The Adhesive Technologies business unit of Henkel has officially inaugurated its new production facility for aerospace applications at the Henkel site in Montornès del Vallès (Montornès), Spain. With the investment of about €35 million, the company aims to serve the 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, the German Counsel General and customers and presented the state-of-the-art building, which meets 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.”

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 14,000 square meters. 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 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 the fourth quarter of 2019.