According to Valentín López, Henkel now has three business units: Home cleaning and care, which is responsible for the production of detergents, softeners and cleaning products; Beauty, which deals with hair, body, skin, mouth care and fragrances; and Adhesives, which produces glues for various industries, such as automotive, consumer, pharmaceutical and footwear.
“We are suppliers of companies like Nike and Adidas, and you don’t see them at home, but I assure you that some adhesive is from Henkel. It could be the glue that is on the toilet paper sheets or the one on the sanitary napkins. Today, we are leaders in the market, with sales of 11.2 billion euros in adhesives, compared to our closest competitor, which should sell around 3.5 billion euros”, he says.
For the manager, part of the company’s success is due to its acquisitions. In 1996, it acquired the hair cosmetic brand Schwarzkopf; in 2004, he bought Dial Corporation, a personal care and household cleaning products firm, and in 2008, he acquired National Starch & Chemical, a manufacturer of industrial adhesives.
López was CEO of this company when the purchase was made and he joined the Henkel team. His performance was key in the transition, managing to exceed financial objectives during that year. Since July 2018, he has served as president of Henkel Mexico and, in addition, in January 2020 he was appointed Technical Customer Service Vice President Consumer Goods Mexico and North America, within the adhesives sector.
“All business units report on the dotted line to a global organization; I have to agree on many synergies that the company has through the executive committee. During my professional career, I have learned that you never have the absolute truth, that there are other perspectives and business solutions when you involve more people. That, together with good practices brings success”, he comments.
In 2021, Henkel Mexico inaugurated a new distribution center in Toluca for detergent and home care products, as well as cosmetics and personal care, with more than 86,000 square meters, which places it as the company’s third largest globally.
The investment was 840 million pesos over 10 years. Thanks to the centralization of six warehouses to one, it managed to reduce 30% of energy consumption and avoided 220,000 km of trips between warehouses, which is equivalent to traveling around the world more than five times.