Could you give us a brief overview of recent developments at Henkel?

2020 has been a very different year for everyone, but it is fair to say Singapore has managed the crisis quite well and the business climate is improving overall. Although our Adhesive Technologies businesses were severely impacted by the pandemic during the first half of 2020, we are seeing gradual recovery in the industrial, packaging, medical device and electronics sectors, while the automotive and aerospace sectors remain challenging.

For our Beauty Care business, we are seeing partial recovery in the professional hair market as hair salons reopen. Sales in the retail sector remain challenging, but we expanded our omni-channel strategy increasing our presence and selling our professional and retail hair products on e-commerce platforms, as well as securing distribution of our Schwarzkopf hair brands in Singapore’s largest grocery retailer, FairPrice. 

Meanwhile, we are strongly encouraging all employees to engage proactively in continuous and lifelong learning on Henkel’s global digital learning platform, which provides our employees worldwide with 24/7 access to more than 4,000 learning modules.

For our Global Supply Chain Hub in Singapore, which marks its fifth anniversary this year, supply chain resilience and sustainability are critical topics.  Its’ unique setup, with various departments working under one roof, translate to faster decision-making, which proved vital in the midst of the pandemic. In terms of sustainability, I am proud to say that all our strategic global and regional suppliers in Asia-Pacific – close to 700 of them – have been qualified under the global ‘Together for Sustainability’ (TfS) initiative. Thus, the overall sustainability performance of our supplier base in the region has improved.

Henkel set out to become climate positive by 2040. Could you break this down for our audience and share more details into the initiatives towards circular economy?

Sustainability is high on Henkel’s agenda and is one of the strategic priorities in Henkel’s purposeful growth agenda. To become a climate-positive company by 2040 and make an active contribution to climate protection, we aim to reduce the carbon footprint of our production sites by 65% by 2025. Henkel intends to achieve this by continuously improving its energy efficiency and by using electricity from renewable sources. By 2040, Henkel also aims to have converted all remaining fossil fuels used in production to climate-neutral alternatives and supply surplus carbon-neutral energy to third parties. In addition, we want to leverage our brands and technologies to help customers, consumers and suppliers save 100 million tons of CO₂ in a ten-year period up to 2025.

Although we do not have production in Singapore, all our employees are certified sustainability ambassadors and they contribute actively to efforts that reduce our impact.

How important do you think offering recyclable, “green” products will be for the chemicals industry moving forward?

With consumers becoming more environmentally aware, more sophisticated and savvier in their purchases, offering products that contribute to sustainability is becoming a pe-requisite to being in the business. Though the pandemic has triggered a surge in plastic use, especially for food packaging and delivery, chemical companies are still under pressure to find the right environmentally friendly solutions.  

How is Henkel embarking on the path towards greater digitalization and Industry 4.0 transformation?

Digitalization and Industry 4.0 can unlock competitive advantage and are key enablers of growth. Since 2016, a digital hub has been operating within the Global Supply Chain Hub in Singapore with a team of data scientists, IT consultants and digital analysts to work on various regional and global initiatives. The team actively collaborates with local universities to explore and implement frontier technologies, such as purchasing predictions and advanced manufacturing automations.

Furthermore, our Adhesive Supply Chain & Operations team based in the Global Supply Chain Hub in Singapore have successfully steered the implementation of 13 smart factories utilizing Industry 4.0 technologies in the Asia-Pacific region. What’s more important is how we have been able to harness the data collected to improve predictions, advance manufacturing automations as well as enhance business processes, customer service level, safety and sustainability.  

When making the decision to locate our second Global Supply Chain Hub in Singapore five years ago, an important factor was the access to the international talent pool and world-class universities that nurture future generations of digital and supply-chain talent.

Poised to grow at over 3.7% CAGR prior to the pandemic, how do you see the specialty chemicals industry moving forward?

Besides greater specialization, the specialty chemicals industry plays a key role in the development of bio-based and environmentally friendly solutions for a broad range of industries. For Henkel, it is important to work with the right partners to go beyond being compliant with regulations and continuously enhance our sustainability contribution across our entire value chain. 

Do you have a final message?

In Singapore, we are heartened by the business-friendly measures of the Singapore Government to revive the economy and create jobs. With our business presence here of 38 years, including five years of successful operations of our Global Supply Chain Hub in Singapore, and building on the 145 years of history of Henkel, Singapore has become one of Henkel’s key global centers of excellence for driving future growth.