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#AViewFrom Henkel North America: Madison Heights, MI

#AViewFrom Henkel North America series

People Adhesive Technologies Jun 29, 2022

Madison Heights - a suburb of Detroit - is home to Henkel’s Adhesive Technologies’ Transportation and Metals business, supporting production of everything from cars to airplanes to beverage cans. Learn more in this segment of #AViewFrom: Madison Heights, MI

Picture of Madison Heights building

The Adhesive Technologies facility located in Madison Heights, MI, supports industries including automotive, aerospace, and metal packaging.

Home to over 250 employees, Henkel is one of the largest employers in Madison Heights, creating the latest adhesive technologies for the automotive, aerospace, metal coil and metal packaging industries. Product development and R&D teams work on next-generation materials to enable paint on cars and airplanes to be free of corrosion, noise to be reduced and crash impacts minimized, food and beverages to be fresh and safe, and building metals like steel to be ready for use in construction.

Originally built in 1957, the property and facilities became part of Henkel following the acquisition of Parker Chemical in 1987. Just outside of “Motor City” (a.k.a. Detroit), the automotive manufacturing hub of the United States, the Henkel Madison Heights strategic location allows the team to be close to customers. This allows for better collaboration, which in turn helps meet customer’s needs and drives industry innovation forward.

Madison Heights Facility - Thumbnail

The Madison Heights facility has recently undergone extensive site improvements, providing an enhanced experience for visiting customers. Check out the updates in this video!

Our recently updated Madison Heights facility together with our talented employees, provide an inspirational space to collaborate and find innovative solutions for customer challenges. Enhancing our customer experience with offerings that include increased digital engagement adds value for our customers and contributes to strengthening our leading position.

car, plane, cans

Henkel’s Madison Heights facility collaborates with some of the biggest names in the automotive, aerospace and metal packaging industries.


IN THE COMMUNITY

Madison Heights employees participate in a variety of community service activities, including support of:

  • Habitat for Humanity
  • Christ Child House, a Detroit-based center for abused and neglected children
  • Sponsoring families during the holidays
  • Local food drives
  • Local park clean-ups
  • United Negro College Fund
Members of the African American Alliance Employee Resource Group

Members of the African American Alliance Employee Resource Group at their 2022 Juneteenth celebration and burger cookoff fundraiser with all proceeds donated to the United Negro College Fund – part of their annual efforts to support education and needs in the Detroit area community. The Madison Heights site includes three Employee Resource Groups: eMERGE (Emerging Entrepreneurs Rising through Growth and Education), Professional Women’s Network & African American Alliance.

DID YOU KNOW

Pretreatment

 Pretreatment is an essential step in automobile manufacturing, protecting metal from corrosion and helping paint adhere better. The team at Henkel’s Madison Heights facility test & develop Henkel’s award-winning Next Generation Metal Pretreatment process, which helps manufacturers design vehicles using more lightweight materials like aluminum.

Known as “lightweighting”, this is a key strategy to help the auto industry address environmental regulations around fuel efficiency and emissions. In electric cars, the use of more lightweight materials helps to offset the weight of the battery and increase driving range.

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lab

The Madison Heights facility has dedicated labs and equipment to conduct testing internally, including areas such as corrosion performance.

lab

The Madison Heights facility includes an R&D surface treatment lab, where teams work on creating next-generation materials to enhance quality and performance.

car

Henkel provides gasketing and structural adhesives for Battery Electric vehicles that play a key role in delivering a battery that is efficient, durable and maximizes performance, while delivering a comfortable driving experience.