Henkel Ibérica revalidates its commitment to Barcelona. The German multinational has chosen the Catalan capital to locate a new European hub for the supply chain. It will be focused on the Consumer Brands business unit, which includes brands such as Bref, Conejo, Cucal, Dixan, Estrella, Fa, La Toja, Micolor, Neutrex, Schwarzkopf, Perlan, and Vernel.
The new operational center will employ more than 100 workers by the end of the year. The launch has been carried out with an initial team of about 40 employees. Their tasks will consist of planning and managing the supply chain in Europe for cleaning, home, and personal care products, with the aim of improving efficiency and productivity.
Since 2017, Henkel's Barcelona headquarters has housed the European hub for the supply chain of the Adhesive Technologies business unit, which integrates brands such as Loctite, Pattex, and Pritt. It also has the European purchasing hub for indirect materials and services. With the incorporation of the latest operational center, Henkel Ibérica will add more than 200 professionals dedicated to regional planning from the Catalan capital.
The German consumer goods company has its headquarters for its Spanish subsidiary in 22@, where it moved in 2015. For decades, it had occupied a building on Còrsega street, corner with Sicilia, which the Meridia Capital fund converted into the current Hotel Barcelona 1882.
The Barcelona technological district houses the multinational's decision-making center on the Peninsula, but Montornès del Vallès is the municipality that receives the investments that the Düsseldorf-based corporation recurrently approves. Henkel landed in the municipality in the 1960s, where it invested more than 300 million pesetas (1.8 million euros) in the new factory, starting with the production of detergents, and later incorporating more products such as adhesives.
Over the years, the production center in Montornès has consolidated itself as one of the group's most advanced factories. In recent years, more than 80 million euros have been invested to expand its facilities with a new state-of-the-art detergent packaging line, a new factory specialized in the production of adhesives for assembling parts for the aerospace industry, and an automatic warehouse to centralize all its logistics in Southern European countries in Montornès. Currently, the complex has more than 500 employees, produces around 200,000 tons per year of detergents, adhesives, and technologies for the aerospace industry, and exports to more than 60 countries.
Globally, Henkel, which is listed on the DAX, had a turnover of more than 21.5 billion euros in 2023 and recorded a profit of 2.6 billion euros. It has a workforce of 48,000 employees.