H.B. Fuller Blog

H.B. Fuller to Host Tour for Shipping Sack Manufacturers

Today, May 16, H.B. Fuller will welcome a group of visitors to its corporate R&D facilities in St. Paul, MN., who are attending a production seminar held by the Paper Shipping Sack Manufacturers’ Association, Inc. (PSSMA).

The PSSMA is the national trade association of U.S. producers of multiwall shipping sacks. Multiwall sacks are flexible containers made from one or more walls of papers, as well as films, foils, special coatings, laminations and other treatments. Often they are used as master containers for consumer-sized bags.

Touring our R&D facility is one of the many seminar highlights. During the seminar, attendees will have the opportunity to listen to presentations on economic and business conditions affecting the industry, industry trends, paper markets, regulatory issues and sustainability, as well as other topics. Just prior to visiting our facility, they will hear a presentation on adhesive technology trends, setting the stage for our tour.

Developing innovative packaging solutions is a priority for H.B. Fuller. We produce a variety of specially formulated adhesives tailored to address the challenges shipping sack producers face, and we look forward to sharing our knowledge, expertise and proven adhesive portfolio with our partners in this industry.

H.B. Fuller takes great pride in supporting the markets we serve. Whether it is the PSSMA , converters at the Focus Forward Flexible Packaging symposium, attendees of INDA’s INSIGHT conference, or the visitors from the upcoming Packaging Association (PAC) seminar this October, we welcome collaborating with partners to better our industries. To learn more about these and other packaging solutions visit us at www.hbfuller.com or Contact us.

LEAN Solar Panel Manufacturing Solutions to be Featured at SNEC PV Power Expo 2012

This month, H.B. Fuller will showcase our advanced adhesives and customized equipment for solar panel manufacturing at SNEC PV Power Expo 2012, May 16-18 in Shanghai, China. The theme of the show, “Develop New Energy, Benefit All Mankind,” speaks to the growing interest in solar power as an eco-friendly energy source.

H.B. Fuller has served the adhesive industry for over 125 years. We take a unique approach to serving our solar customers, first taking the time to fully understand their needs, and then providing individualized LEAN solar manufacturing solutions that combine our advanced solar adhesives and customized equipment.

We know the biggest goal of solar panel manufacturers today is to reduce costs without sacrificing quality. While innovation has focused primarily on increasing photovoltaic efficiency, or the ability of the panel to produce energy from light, our technology provides an untapped opportunity to improve speed, quality and costs through LEAN manufacturing. An example of this can be seen in our video in both English and Chinese @ www.hbfuller.com/solar.

When used on back-end assembly for solar modules, our quick-set, hot-melt adhesives provide outstanding green strength for immediate handling, along with durable adhesion to last a panel’s lifetime. Our total solution of products and customized equipment can help you reduce costs and simplify operations, while improving consistency and manufacturing speed.

There is so much opportunity in the solar panel industry, and H.B. Fuller is poised to help you grow. We are excited to meet face-to-face with Power Expo attendees and share our Wave of Innovation for solar panel manufacturing.

Make sure to visit our experts in booth W2-108, or if you aren’t attending the show, contact us today to arrange a demo in your factory.

Making Connections, Showcasing Full-Care™ hot melt adhesives at Eurasia Nonwovens Symposium

We are excited to be exhibiting at the Eurasia Nonwovens Symposium next week, the first event of its kind in the Eurasia region. Held May 10-11 in Istanbul, Turkey, the program will feature a mix of technical and business topics ranging from innovation and regulation to trends in machinery and raw materials. It will also provide us with a great opportunity to network and showcase our innovative adhesives for the industry.

Visit us at Table Top 6 to hear about our family of Full-Care™ hot melt adhesives. Whether you manufacture baby diapers, adult products or feminine care products, you can rely on Full-Care hot melt adhesives to deliver reliable, quality product consistently. The Full-Care family consists of adhesives for construction, core, positioning and elastic and is backed by our technical expertise and global footprint. They have helped many of our nonwoven customers address their challenges and differentiate their products in the marketplace.

Among other products, we will feature Full-Hook™ adhesives and Full-Care™ 7300 adhesive, two innovative nonwoven solutions. The Full-Hook family of adhesives delivers superior performance and value in hook and loop fastening systems, allowing you to gain total control of tab assembly and reduce manufacturing costs. Our Full-Care™ 7300 adhesive with Padlock™ technology stabilizes thinner cores reducing the risk of core separation, leaks and poor fluid retention. In addition to enhanced core integrity, it also provides versatile direct-spray or transfer-spray applications and cost savings.

We look forward to seeing you at the show. If you don’t plan to attend, contact us to learn more about how our experience and strong track record of supply assurance can work for you.

Raw Material Price Pressure Continues in 2012

H.B. Fuller just released its April 2012 Global Raw Material Report, a publication we produce to help our adhesive customers assess the regional and global events affecting supply, demand and pricing of raw materials.

In our April issue, we examine a variety of macro and micro-economic factors impacting adhesive raw material supplies and contributing to upward pricing pressure. Though slow, economic growth and increases in global demand continue to limit the availability of certain raw materials. In addition, while the price of crude oil remains high, it is not expected to suppress worldwide gasoline demand. That may mean less ethylene by-products available for adhesive production. The use of shale gas as an alternative gas source in the U.S. continues to gain interest, but must be viewed with caution.

In addition to the above trends, we explore market interactions keeping the supply/demand balance tight for resin oil feedstocks and hydrocarbon resins. We also look at the fourth warmest winter in the history of North America and how it may impact natural gas production this fall, and we provide a snapshot of supply issues for hot melt, water-based and reactive raw materials.

Our Global Raw Material Report is now available for download (English, German, Spanish and Italian .pdf). We also translate this report in multiple languages. These will be posted to the Raw Materials Update section of our site, under Innovation and Experience, in all regions as they become available.

How H.B. Fuller made a better envelope gum

H.B. Fuller is committed to providing innovative technology for all of the markets it serves, including the envelope industry. Our new FullSeal™ EG2500 envelope gum for North America is a perfect example of that commitment at work.

How do you make a better envelope gum? We started by listening to our customers, understanding their challenges and needs, and providing a solution that allows them to operate more effectively and better serve their end-users, too.

Whether you are an envelope manufacturer, an inserter, a mass mailer, or even a mail recipient, our game-changing FullSeal™ EG2500 envelope gum offers benefits important to you. That’s because it is formulated to provide manufacturing efficiency, cost savings and optimum seal security.

Envelope manufacturers who run up to 20,000 envelopes per minute know nothing can be left to chance. FullSeal™ EG2500 front seal gum is designed to run at fast speeds and deliver the kind of high performance envelope manufacturers, and their insertion customers, demand.

FullSeal™ EG2500 gum provides excellent resistance against tabbing, or premature seal activation due to high humidity. Tabbing can cause sticking when envelopes are in storage and can jam insertion equipment. Taking steps to prevent it will become even more critical as we approach the summer months.

In addition to tabbing resistance, FullSeal™ EG2500 gum offers exceptionally high tack. And because it is such a high-quality gum, you can apply it at a thinner coat rate, which means cost savings. Its exceptional performance, combined with its low use cost, make FullSeal™ front seal gum EG2500 the best value in the industry.

H.B. Fuller is committed to bringing innovation to the envelope industry. To fully appreciate the advantages of this innovative seal gum, H.B. Fuller invites envelope manufacturers to try it themselves. For more information about FullSeal™ EG2500, and to request your FREE Pail and consultation, visit www.hbfuller.com/envelope. You won’t be disappointed.

Expanded Line of Print and Media Adhesives to Debut at Drupa 2012

If you are looking for the latest in Graphic Art’s adhesive solutions for bookbinding, packaging, pouches & envelopes, and retail ready and packaging reinforcement solutions you won’t want to miss H.B. Fuller at Drupa 2012, May 3-16 in Düsseldorf, Germany.

This is an especially exciting show for us, not just because it is the leading trade exhibit for the industry, but because it is the first time we will have an opportunity to present to these markets our combined line of products from H.B. Fuller and the recently acquired industrial adhesives business of Forbo Group.

Drupa brings together experts from around the world in prepress, pre-media, printing, book binding, print finishing and paper converting. Known for delivering forward-thinking product innovation, it will give us a chance to share how our acquisition of another market leader brings new strength to our line of adhesive solutions and how that benefits you.

Make sure to visit us in Hall 13, Stand C65, where you will be able to check out some of our latest innovations such as:

Optipur™ adhesives, a range of PUR-based bookbinding products including side and spine glue for hard and soft cover and digital print, and featuring a new adhesive that meets the stringent BGIA 790-105 regulations for reduced emissions in the workplace.

Swift®tak adhesives for advanced inline web gluing used in leaflet production.

Ipacoll® PWF 1030 adhesive, a new and innovative water-based product leveraging its polymer formulation capabilities for quick changeover and fast turnaround in Film2Print lamination.

Swift®tak 5580 adhesive for precise adhesive application by nozzle for the production of folding cartons at high speeds.

We are excited to debut our expanded line of print and media adhesives in Düsseldorf. If you aren’t attending the show but want to learn more, contact us to discuss your adhesive needs.

Learn more @ www.hbfuller.com/graphic-arts

Meet the Experts at Upcoming CIDPEX in China and Experience our Game-changing Nonwovens Solutions

Next week we will be showcasing our innovative adhesives for the nonwovens industry at the China International Disposable Paper Expo (CIDPEX) held April 18-20 in Xiamen, China. CIDPEX, the largest event in its category, brings together leaders in tissue paper and disposable hygiene products.

H.B. Fuller has served the nonwovens market since the commercialization of disposable diapers in the 1950s. Today, our approach to the market is unique thanks to experience and a deep understanding of the market’s technologies and manufacturing equipments and how adhesive formulations perform. At CIDPEX we will feature three important nonwovens solutions, our family of Full-Care™ hot melt adhesives, Swift®melt adhesives and our Hydralert™ wetness indicator hot melt adhesive technology.

Our Full-Care hot melt adhesives deliver high performance and innovative solutions to manufacturers of baby diapers and adult incontinence, feminine hygiene and other nonwovens products. The Full-Care family consists of adhesives for full series of construction, core integrity, positioning and elastic suited for various diaper and napkin makers, and it is backed by our technical expertise and global footprint. In terms of innovation, these products have helped our nonwovens customers differentiate their products and drive changes.

Stop by our booth to hear more about our range of Full-Care products as well as another game-changing innovations. Our Hydralert wetness indicating video captures how this patent pending technology performs even in extreme conditions, offering unsurpassed humidity resistance, distinct color change and better machining properties than standard wetness indicators.

Our longstanding commitment to the nonwovens industry remains strong. Visit us in Hall E / Booth 3224 to hear how we can put our experience and innovative adhesives to work for you. Not attending CIDPEX? Contact us to learn more.

See you at the show.

Packaging Innovations Make an Impact at IPACK-IMA 2012

Reciently, more than 54,000 professionals in packaging, processing and material handling gathered at IPACK-IMA 2012 in Milan, Italy, and H.B. Fuller was right in the middle of the action.

We were honored to be among 1,300 exhibitors at this leading international event for nine business communities: Grain-Based Food, Dairy Products, Beverage, Confectionery, Vegetables & Fruit, Fresh & Convenience Food, Health & Personal Care, Chemicals – Industrial & Home and Industrial & Durable Goods. Even more exciting was the opportunity to share with attendees our differentiated packaging adhesives and systems.

Our display grabbed the attention of visitors from around the world who were interested in learning more about the unique benefits provided by our innovative carton sealing, container labeling and flexible packaging solutions, and Adalis™ packaging opening systems. We were pleased to discuss with attendees our extensive offering, in particular showstoppers such as:

Advantra Encore™ case and carton hot melt adhesive, which provides superior performance and higher mileage than traditional hot-melt technologies;
LiquiLoc® high-performance synthetic container labeling adhesives for beer, wine and soft drink products;
Adalis Open-Sesame® display ready system, which provides an easy, safe and fast way to open boxes without knives; and
Flextra™ solventless and solvented laminating adhesives and Lunamelt® hot melt heat seal products, all of which help to reduce packaging materials, lower shipping costs and address environmental concerns with flexible packaging customers.
Liquamelt® Adhesive System, the packaging industry’s first low density, adhesive system.

Since the event, we have busy following up on requests for demonstrations. If you missed us at IPACK-IMA or you didn’t attend the show, contact us now and we would be happy to schedule a demonstration for you, too.

Meet the H.B. Fuller Experts at the ASC Waterborne Adhesives Seminar

Do you want to know more about waterborne adhesives? Are you interested in learning how they can help you better serve your customers and add to your bottom line? Then you won’t want to miss the ASC Waterborne Adhesives Short Course at the ASC Spring Convention and EXPO in Denver April 15-16.

Led by my associates Alan Gusek and Doug Lange, this course offers the perfect opportunity to expand your knowledge about this important line of products, whether you are a chemist, application engineer, sales or marketing professional, raw material supplier, equipment supplier or consumer goods professional.

Waterborne adhesives are an extremely versatile and logical choice for bonding many types of substrates. Some of their advantages include the absence of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and ease of clean up after application.

During the seminar, Alan and Doug will highlight the leading waterborne adhesives in use today, recent developments in “green” chemistry, application and production equipment, and various additives and other formulation techniques that can enhance products.

Alan, a senior technical manager for H.B. Fuller, will focus on applications and markets under the “woodworking” umbrella. He will cover substrates, equipment and manufacturing styles, and will explore types of waterborne adhesives appropriate for woodworking applications. Alan also will discuss how to deliver value to customers through exceptional technical support.

Many durable goods products assembled for the HVAC and construction markets require flame resistance properties, and adhesives often are a carrier of flame retardants into the finished good. Doug, a market product manager at H.B. Fuller, will cover common construction assemblies requiring the use of flame retardant water based adhesives. He also will discuss regulatory and performance requirements and typical approaches used to minimize the spread of flames.

If you want to learn more about waterborne adhesives, register today. If you aren’t attending the convention, be sure to contact us to discuss your waterborne adhesive needs.

H.B. Fuller Announces Make a Difference Campaign Winners

During our annual Make a Difference campaign, H.B. Fuller employees were challenged to give back to their communities for 98 days, and their response was tremendous. In small villages and big cities across the globe, they worked hard to make the lives of many a little bit better.

While every project made an impact, we chose four campaign winners based on participation, uniqueness, impact on the community and how well they demonstrated the Power of Collaboration, one of H.B. Fuller's core beliefs. Congratulations to these four facilities!

In the Latin American region, our Brazil facility hosted a fun day at Associação Pró-Ex Sorocaba, which serves 121 children and adolescents with special needs. The day's activities included theater, breakfast, planting trees, lunch and gifts.

In the North American region, our Aurora, Ill., facility held Oktoberfest luncheons to raise money for 13 Thanksgiving food baskets benefitting families in need in the Palatine Township. They also invited a local firehouse crew to have lunch with them in recognition of their service to the community.

In the Europe, India, Middle East and Africa region, our Wels, Austria, employees completed four projects benefitting various groups. They gardened, prepared items for a flea market and held a bake sale for Kumplgut, a retreat for children with cancer; escorted seniors to graveyards so they could honor their deceased on All Saints Day; helped clean a social kitchen that provides meals to the disadvantaged; and held a blood drive.

In the Asia Pacific region, H.B. Fuller Philippines volunteers partnered with Gawad Kalinga, a local organization that helps communities in poverty, and spent the day gardening, painting and excavating at a village built for homeless families. They also donated cleaning materials, food and school supplies.

These are just a few examples of how we gave back during our 2011 campaign. I'm proud to be part of an organization that cares so strongly about the communities where we work and live.

Learn more about our Community Responsibility commitments