#AViewFrom Henkel North America: LaGrange, GA

Did you know that Henkel North America employs approximately 8,000 employees in more than 65 sites across the U.S. and Canada? Collectively, these sites support two business units: Adhesive Technologies and Consumer Brands.

Our #AViewFrom series features select locations, sharing information and facts about our sites across Henkel North America.

Nails and screws are essential for home construction, but adhesives play an equally vital – and expanding – role. Strong, durable adhesives secure subfloors, bathroom and kitchen tiles, and wood trim, while sealants and caulks around windows, bathtubs, and showers keep unwanted elements like moisture and air out. At the Henkel facility in LaGrange, Georgia, the products being manufactured by employees are helping construction professionals build more state-of-the-art, resilient structures – from the ground up. Learn more in this segment of #AViewFrom: LaGrange, GA.

Henkel’s 85,000 sq. ft. LaGrange, GA facility, which serves the company’s Adhesive Technologies Consumer, Craftsman & Construction (ACC) business, produces close to 35 million cartridges of construction adhesives and sealants annually. With over 150 products made at this site, it is an important manufacturing center for well-known products like LOCTITE® Power Grab® and GE® branded sealants in addition for brands sold internationally, including LEPAGE® in Canada and RESISTOL® in Mexico. Approximately 70 production, quality, maintenance, engineering, supply chain, and warehouse employees power this plant, which operates two shifts per day over a four-day per week schedule. The adhesives and sealants manufactured here are vital for all types of home construction, renovation, and maintenance applications.

Dan Dorst, Site Director, credits an intense focus on quality, employee engagement, and a reputation as a great employer for LaGrange’s success. “When team members feel like they are heard, their ideas and concerns embraced, and their efforts rewarded, they have more confidence and job satisfaction,” he says.

We’ve worked hard to encourage the respectful giving and receiving of feedback for every part of our operation, and this practice has dramatically transformed our site culture. In our community, Henkel has a reputation for being a good employer that respects its employees. This gives us all a tremendous sense of pride, which is apparent in our team’s work ethic and the high quality of our products. Every role in our factory requires exceptional attention to detail, and our people deliver.

Dan Dorst, Site Director

In existence since the early 1980s, the LaGrange facility became part of the Henkel network in 2001 when the company acquired then-occupant OSI Sealants. The OSI brand is still manufactured by Henkel today. LaGrange houses seven production areas, along with a polymer reactor that produces base materials for many of the end products made here.

To meet the demands of current and projected construction market growth, this Henkel facility is investing in efficiency-enhancing technologies like its Manufacturing Operation System (MOS) that evaluates various manufacturing elements to analyze and elevate productivity. In addition, continuous improvement initiatives help the site operate cost-effectively and sustainably. “Seemingly small process alterations can drive big results,” explains Dorst. “For example, we used to discard caulk when it was purged from the machines. Now, we take those drums of perfect, high-quality material and put them back into the process, reducing waste and providing significant cost savings for our facility annually.” This practice and other energy- and material-saving procedures are enhancing LaGrange’s circularity and conservation impact and supporting Henkel’s sustainability goals.

DID YOU KNOW?

Henkel’s LaGrange facility produces the polymer for the adhesives that secure graphic wraps to buses. The polymer is also used to make the adhesive for floor stickers. The demand was significant during the Covid time period when most companies added floor signs for social distancing.

CULTURE, AND QUALITY:

There’s plenty about the LaGrange site that its employees appreciate, not the least of which are its culture of excellence and unique shift rotation. “I grew up in the construction industry because my father is a foreman,” says Roberto Saldana, Warehouse Lead.

I’ve been around Henkel products like PowerGrab all my life. I know that they help deliver a solid, safe structure and why they are highly valued in the building industry. Now, working in this facility and seeing first-hand the emphasis on quality and our team’s commitment, I understand the reason these materials are so successful. I’m proud to be a part of that.

Roberto Saldana, Warehouse Lead

Production Supervisor Adrian Jackson shares that when he is on-site, he is 100% focused and committed to excellence, and he also appreciates the balance this job provides.

Our four-day shift schedule allows us to give it our all when we are here and enjoy a good work-life balance. Outside of work, we have time to physically and mentally regroup and spend time with our families. That’s very important to our team.

Adrian Jackson, Production Supervisor