In 2021, Henkel opened their Inspiration Centre Düsseldorf (IDC) – a whopping 47,000 square meter, ultra-modern facility designed to create innovative solutions and bring together people and organisations from a multitude of industries.
We spoke with Sebastian Förster, the ICD’s Customer Experience Activation Manager, to find out more.
Tell us about your role within Henkel?
My role is called “Customer Experience Activation Manager” and in short, my main responsibility is to host our customers and visitors in the Inspiration Center Düsseldorf at Henkel’s HQ and share insights on our vast Adhesive Technology portfolio, innovations and sustainability topics across all business units and markets. Ultimately, to inspire new ideas and collaborations on strategic projects and future partnerships.
Could you tell us about the Inspiration Centre Dusseldorf (ICD)?
The ICD is a testament and commitment to innovation at Henkel’s Adhesive Technologies. There are more than 650 scientists, chemists and engineers working in over 34 laboratories here. It offers a spectacular insight into our vast applications and solutions portfolio. With our unique and exciting customer experience areas and tours, we inspire synergies, networking and better customer relationships for all stakeholders.
We host approx. 1000+ customers, meaning individual companies, each year. It’s a great hub to discuss the future of technologies, regardless of markets and industries, be it in sustainable packaging, e-mobility or modern housing.
I could go on, but I would encourage everyone to check out our website for more details: Inspiration Center Düsseldorf
The ICD is really one of its kind in the world, can you talk us through what a visit to the ICD would entail?
So, the building is dedicated to chemistry and application engineering. The ICD offers a look into our Adhesive Technologies across industries, through our CX areas and laboratories. So, when you visit – you will get a look into an open-space concept with access to a wide range of technologies, such as hotmelts, PUR, epoxies or functional coating and sealants. One of our highlights is also our Infinity Room, with a 270-degree view on an interactive landscape of industries and applications.
We also have open exhibitions on our technologies across industries for further inspiration, ranging from a driving simulator to explore ADAS (Advanced Driver Assistant Systems) applications or the future of lightweight furniture and smart monitoring solutions for predictive Maintenance, such as LOCTITE® Pulse
Members of our team from Interlock Adhesives have visited and love the innovative and interactive parts of the ICD. What’s your favorite part of the ICD?
My favorite part of the ICD are the people and our visitors. As someone who is constantly engaged in in-depth industry discussions, trends around innovation, AI or sustainability, my favorite part is the interactions with all the experts, internal and external, who enrich my daily experience – not one day or tour is the same, and it’s thanks to everyone who takes the time to take part in our customer experience. I’m learning each day, as industries and trends shift so rapidly.
How does the ICD contribute to a greener environment?
The entire site is committed to a CO-neutral target, but the ICD respectively has an active part as it saves yearly roughly 7.000 tons of CO2 using waste heat and biogas. It also has a capacity of 85.000 liters of rainwater for multiple purposes.
If anyone is interested in more information, there are always the Henkel Sustainability Reports available: Sustainability Report
P.S – The first environmental report was already published in 1992!
Can you tell us more about what’s next for the ICD?
Well, it started as the first Inspiration Center, but naturally, our Customer Experience has become a global phenomenon – so, we already have similar centers live and ready in Mumbai, India and Bridgewater, New Jersey. Soon, we’ll have our next center in Shanghai, China and after that, a dedicated center in Jundiaí, Sao Paulo (Brazil).
Also, the newest addition to the ICD has been finished at the end of last year, the newly opened Battery Test Center: Henkel strengthens Battery Engineering Center with the opening of a state-of-the-art battery testing facility
But as you can imagine, there is always something new around the corner
Henkel have a big focus on sustainability, what is your favorite initiative?
There are two things I want to highlight here – first, Henkel internally and the sustainability team did an amazing job in introducing HEART. It stands for Henkel Environmental Assessment Reporting Tool. It’s a certified tool to automatically calculate the carbon footprint of more than 58.000 Henkel products, on a cradle-to-gate emissions basis. I find this truly amazing and inspiring.
Secondly, there are a lot of various initiatives and pilots underway, but there is currently a pilot project, where Henkel teamed up with the European Retail Company OBI (Home Improvement Supplies) and the recycling solutions provider PDR Recycling which caught my attention. So, you now have a chance to bring back your used and empty cartridges, for example from Pattex and the store will take them back and recycle them to create a new cartridge. It’s something similar to what we have with our PET-recycling stream, but now for HDPE cartridges. Currently, it’s only limited to Germany.
Lastly, what’s your favorite thing about working for Henkel?
My favorite thing about working for Henkel are, again, the people There is an unwavering culture of striving for innovative and sustainable solutions that is infectious. If you’ve been to the ICD, the slogan that we have in big letters at the entry says, “We Make It Happen”. To be honest, since I started almost three years ago, it also has become one my most frequented catch phrases. It’s the culture that really makes the difference for me.
Henkel have also put together a fantastic video explaining more about the ICD, which can be found here
Contact us today to find out more
