EXHIBITOR INTERVIEW

What will you be exhibiting at the show?

We will be demonstrating our competence in laminating and bonding foams, nonwovens, and all manner of materials. With our broad pressure-sensitive adhesive portfolio of 300+ products, many of which are Avery Dennison's developments, we can offer solutions to meet (almost) any challenge.

Last year we introduced our Core Series™ Portfolio, highlighting 40 odd PSA solutions based on 9 adhesive technology families that meet most of the everyday bonding and laminating projects. Quick sampling, low minimum order quantities and fast service made it easier for our customers to respond to their customer demands with Avery Dennison tapes.

Will you be bringing anything new to the market?

The revolution that electrification is bringing to the automotive industry has generated not just new products but also new concepts. We have new flame retardant adhesive technology that, coupled with our leading flame retardant polymer film, enables laminations that are compliant with UL94-V0. This opens new concepts in multi-functional material combinations for battery applications, where cold lamination with PSA delivers on performance and productivity needs.

Will you have any demonstrations, competitions, or attractions at your stand?

Last year at Foam Expo 2021, we launched our App-based Core Series Product Selection Tool (a unique and industry-first tool). This App, which runs on IoS and Android mobile devices, takes the user through a simple 4-step process to identify the most suitable PSA solution for their project. We will be promoting this again at Foam Expo 2023.

Why is this event important to your business?

We wish to speak to both those that specify and assemble the foam parts in their products so that they have the right adhesive solution to match their expectations. We also want to partner with converters to ensure they have the optimal product selected to match their converting processes.

Do you have any recent news you’d like to share with us?

Last year, Avery Dennison acquired JDC Solutions Inc (a privately owned manufacturer of pressure-sensitive speciality tapes headquartered in Mount Juliet, Tennessee). JDC Solutions Inc manufactures speciality tapes for high-value industrial applications and has a longstanding relationship with U.S. converters serving the automotive, consumer appliance, and building and construction industries. JDC Solutions Inc is now part of Avery Dennison’s Performance Tapes North American business.

What sustainable measures are you taking? Any targets you’re proud of hitting?

Avery Dennison has ambitious corporate goals for ESG, which are publicly communicated on our website and in our annual ESG reports. Included in these ambitions are Performance Tapes Europe. We are proud of the solar thermal array currently in production at our Turnhout (Belgium) site. This development will supply energy for our processes and is the largest in an industrial setting in Europe! We also have wind turbines that deliver up to 30% of our energy required over the last few years. 

Regarding what we produce, PSA tapes contribute to our customer's sustainability measures by enabling lightweight materials to be used. Pressure-sensitive adhesives enable the production of most of today’s devices and products, enabling the permanent joining of many different materials and parts that can contribute to lower CO2 equivalent footprints.

How important is recycling to you and how have you adapted to regulatory updates?

Recycling plays a key role as part of the “3-Rs”- reduce, reuse, and recycle. We are always looking to reduce our waste and in 2020 reached the target to have 75% of our waste reused. We also help our customers to recycle, for example with our ADCircular program. Here we work with partners to collect spent liners, both paper and plastic, from our customers for recycling.

What lessons have you learnt over the past year?

The importance of partnering with your customers and their customers. I learnt this in the last year, working within the automotive industry to find solutions that the rapid move to electrification has brought. Where there are no common practices or standard solutions, working with all stakeholders in the value chain becomes critical, to clarify the many performance needs and then come up with the optimal solution.

Are you working on any technical developments now?

Solutions that deliver electrical isolation in high voltage systems, flame retardant products that contribute to meeting the highest standards such as the vertical burn tests described in UL94, and PSA technologies that deliver high shear strengths.

What fascinates you about your role?

As an Automotive Market Segment Manager, I continue to get excited when I can help deliver a solution that can be found in the cars we see on the road. It is helping our society to continue to enjoy the personal mobility that we hold so dear and is a large part of our feeling of living in a democratic and equal society.

Tell us your funniest adhesives joke or one-liner!

When explaining to my family what I do, working with technical tapes for the most demanding applications, they tell their friends it is simply “very sticky tape”!