Henkel Adhesive Technologies has opened a comprehensively modernized Packaging Competence Center in Düsseldorf. The company indicates that the investment responds to changes taking place in the packaging industry, related to new sustainability regulations, growing demand for circular solutions, and the progressing digitalization of production. The center is intended to serve as a place where customers and partners can jointly develop, test, and prepare adhesive and coating solutions for packaging for industrial implementation. As Dirk Martin, Head of Packaging Adhesives and Coatings Europe at Henkel, emphasizes, the choice of adhesive or coating made today affects the packages that will reach the market in the coming stages. "With our Packaging Competence Center, we are making sure those choices are the right ones by giving our customers and partners a unique environment to develop, test, and scale the solutions that will shape the future of packaging, faster, smarter and more sustainably than ever before." The modernization of the center is an extension of Henkel’s strategic partnership with Nordmeccanica, announced in May 2025. The cooperation focuses on supporting innovation and sustainability in the flexible packaging segment. Thanks to the new machinery, the center is intended to reproduce operating conditions corresponding to current industrial standards, allowing adhesive and coating solutions to be tested in a realistic environment and their suitability for industrial applications and production scale-up to be verified.
In the opinion of Vincenzo Cerciello, Vice President of Nordmeccanica, the significance of a strategic partnership depends on its translation into practical results. "With our machinery now at the core of the modernized Packaging Competence Center, we are turning shared ambition into concrete capabilities, enabling the packaging industry to test, refine, and scale solutions with a level of precision and speed that simply wasn't possible before."
A facility designed for the industry’s future requirements
Two new machines from Nordmeccanica, Super Combi 5000 and Super Simplex SL e800, have been installed at the center. The equipment enables all standard lamination and coating processes used across the industry. The setup is complemented by five flexible application trolleys using gearless flexographic coating technology, as well as expanded systems for digital data collection. According to Henkel, this equipment allows the center to meet the most advanced industrial standards.
Kai Ethner, director of application engineering for Henkel Packaging Adhesives and Coatings Europe, points out that the site has been prepared with the market’s direction of development in mind, where recyclable solutions and the reduction of chemicals of concern are gaining importance. "For example, coatings are essential to this transition, enabling the functional mono-material packaging designs the market increasingly demands. With a particular focus on gravure and flexographic coating applications for plastic and paper substrates, we are helping our customers test faster, scale sooner, and bring recyclable solutions to market with greater impact. Henkel is covering its complete portfolio, ranging from solvent-free, water-based and solvent-based solutions to coating systems."
In parallel, Henkel has also invested in a testing area for pressure-sensitive adhesive applications located in the same building. The equipment in this laboratory area has been expanded with modern coating systems as well as UV activation and measurement systems. According to the company, this expansion is intended to support close cooperation with customers in developing new solutions for the specialty tapes and labels industry.
Opening of the Packaging Competence Center (from left to right): Vincenzo Cerciello - Nordmeccanica; Kai Ethner, Dirk Martin and Rajat Agarwal - Henkel; Antonio Cerciello and Alfredo Cerciello - Nordmeccanica
Connecting testing, validation and training
The modernized Packaging Competence Center has been integrated into Henkel’s broader infrastructure by linking it with the neighboring Inspiration Center Düsseldorf. The company states that this makes it possible to cover all key stages of the product life cycle, from chemistry development and application testing, through industrial validation and training, to recycling with the use of the company’s in-house recyclability testing laboratory. The center is therefore intended to function as a support base for both the development of new products and their assessment in terms of implementation and requirements related to the circular economy.
Henkel also reports support for companies through programs such as the Converter’s Academy, the PSA Academy, and additional customer training. Their purpose is to improve understanding of current application technologies, ensure they are mastered in a repeatable way, and accelerate the transfer of developed solutions into production.
As Ethner concludes, achieving the overriding goal of true sustainability in packaging requires close cooperation across the entire value chain. "This is not just about new machines or buildings. It is about bringing experience and expertise together to move the entire industry forward with our customers and partners."
The new machines enable advanced testing under state-of-the-art production conditions
