Henkel inaugurated what it says is the world’s largest adhesives factory in Shanghai in September 2013 and four months later the new plant is running on planned output schedule.

The new factory, known as the Dragon Plant, comprises 150,000 square meters of space and is now the central production site for industrial adhesives in China and the Asia Pacific region for the company. Customers being served by the new adhesives plant include enterprises in the automotive industry and various consumer goods sectors. Annual output is forecast to reach up to 428,000 metric tons of adhesives.

“This new adhesives factory will enable our adhesives business to expand and leverage its global reach, and win market share in emerging markets,” says Kasper Rorsted, chairman of board of the Henkel Group.

Henkel is generating 45% of its total sales in emerging markets and 55% of its employees are based in these countries. One of Henkel’s financial targets for the year 2016 is to increase the sales generated in emerging markets to €10 billion while aiming for total sales of €20 billion.

Henkel will be concentrating its existing adhesives production operations in the greater Shanghai region at the new site in the Shanghai Chemical Industry Park and expand its capacities for current and future technologies.

Henkel has invested more than €50 million euros in the plant and will employ about 600 people there. With this factory, Henkel is responding to the rising demand for industrial adhesive technologies in China and the entire Asia Pacific region.

China and the surrounding region is already a major and growing consumer of nonwoven hygienic products such as baby diapers, femcare products and adult incontinence products. In these, and many other industries adhesives are used extensively and enhance their product performance while helping to make production processes more sustainable.

“As a leader in supplying adhesives to the nonwoven hygiene market this new facility ensures that Henkel is placed to grow in these markets by supplying both the global market leaders and the emerging new local businesses with our latest, innovative technology and local technical service,” says Ron McKinley, Henkel business director of nonwoven and tissue adhesives in the EIMEA region.