The new Dragon Plant factory in Shanghai will be the largest state-of-the-art adhesives factory in the world when it opens this September. There are only 66 days left until the opening ceremony and the official start of operations at the new plant.

The Dragon Plant will consolidate two former plants into one multi-technology site. The synergies leveraged will enable Henkel to expand its capacities and respond to rapidly increasing demand, especially in emerging markets. The Dragon Plant will become one of Henkel’s main manufacturing bases in the Asia-Pacific region.
 
Adherence to Henkel’s sustainability strategy is one of the factory’s main priorities. The factory saves energy thanks to an air compressor in the utility building that retains heat and uses it to warm up the water used in the plant, for example. Recycling wastewater also supports reduced water consumption, while induction lighting in administrative and workshop areas and solar powered site lighting help decrease energy requirements. All of the plant’s processes have been evaluated in line with Henkel’s ambition to make the Dragon Plant a benchmark factory for sustainability.

The Dragon project achieved an important milestone on March 31: The first test batch of hotmelt adhesives was successfully produced. By this means Henkel is testing its newly established production process – from mixture to packaging. “There’s still some way to go, but the construction work is well on track,” explained Sharpin Zou (Start-up Manager). The coming weeks will see further construction, including the installation of new facilities and the administration building. “We’re happy to present our progress and give you an impression of the exciting Dragon Plant project.”