Henkel upgrades Packaging Competence Center

Henkel Adhesive Technologies has inaugurated an extensively modernized Packaging Competence Center in Düsseldorf, adding new machinery and expanded digitalization to create a testing environment that replicates state-of-the-art production conditions for adhesive and coating development in flexible packaging and labels.

The upgrade builds on Henkel's strategic partnership with Nordmeccanica, announced in May 2025. Two new Nordmeccanica machines, the Super Combi 5000 and Super Simplex SL e800, enable all standard lamination and coating processes used across the industry, complemented by five flexible application trolleys with gearless flexo coating technology and expanded data collection capabilities.

The center covers Henkel's full product portfolio across solvent-free, water-based, solvent-based and coating formats, with a particular focus on gravure and flexographic coating applications for plastic and paper substrates. A parallel investment in the pressure-sensitive adhesive testing area adds modern coating systems, UV activation and measurement equipment to support the specialty tapes and labels industry.

The modernized center connects with the neighboring Inspiration Center Düsseldorf, mapping the full product lifecycle from chemistry development through application testing, industrial validation and recyclability testing. Henkel also offers customer training through the Converter's Academy and PSA Academy.

'The choice of adhesive or coating made today defines the packages that will reach the shelves tomorrow,' said Dirk Martin, head of Henkel Packaging Adhesives and Coatings in Europe. 'With our Packaging Competence Center, we are giving our customers and partners a unique environment to develop, test and scale solutions faster, smarter and more sustainably than ever before.'

'With our machinery now at the core of the modernized center, we are turning shared ambition into concrete capabilities,' noted Vincenzo Cerciello, vice president of Nordmeccanica.