Henkel CEO Hans Van Bylen has revealed its plans for making investments of around €300 million in technologies, innovation and digitalization to ensure sustainable profitable growth in coming years.
The company will invest in the next level of digitalization, specifically in digital businesses, analytics, industry 4.0 as well as digital infrastructure and cyber-security.
Henkel’s accelerated digital transformation initiative has assisted the company to increase digital sales at both Beauty Care and Laundry Care by about 35 percent year-on-year. Joachim Jaeckle is the CIO of Henkel.
Henkel in 2018 announced a contract with Atos to manage IT outsourcing services. Atos will be responsible for Henkel’s Datacenter infrastructure in Germany and the US.
Atos is Henkel’s partner for managing their servers for applications as well as management and support for Oracle and SAP databases, Storage & Backup, Operations for Application Data, as well as Active Directory, File- and Print servers in remote locations.
Henkel in 2017 selected Microsoft as part of the plan to advance its digital transformation journey by starting the deployment of Office 365 E5
Henkel, as part of its plan to increase agility, has launched initiatives focusing on simplified planning processes, optimize workflows, transparent communication and on encouraging employees in their entrepreneurial thinking.
Henkel’s Corporate Venture Capital unit invested in new technologies, materials, applications, business and service models with direct investments in start-ups as well as in other venture funds. Henkel will invest about 150 million euros in venturing activities between 2017 and 2020.
Henkel CEO Hans Van Bylen said the company made progress in the digital transformation. Its digital sales at group level increased organically with double-digit growth rates, driven by organic growth of more than 30 percent in our consumer goods businesses.
Henkel invested further in its production facilities in order to leverage the potential of Industry 4.0. This allows an optimized steering of production sites and processes, resulting in higher quality, improved efficiency and more sustainability.
The company has set up a Digital Advisory Board with industry experts to advise the Management Board on the digital transformation process.
The company launched Henkel X as an internal and external platform to accelerate the digital transformation of Henkel. Henkel also established a mentorship network of around 150 external mentors that include founders, digital experts and thought-leaders.
Henkel CEO believes that digital transformation connects to Henkel’s strategic priority to increase agility across the entire organization.
Henkel CFO Carsten Knobel is focusing on cost discipline and efficiency and Fund Growth initiatives as part of the plan to deliver more than €500 million in annual efficiency gains as of 2020. Henkel has realized more than 50 percent of the targeted total efficiency gains in 2018.
Henkel’s Adhesive Technologies business aims to create value via transformative solutions, leveraging mobility, connectivity and sustainability.
Henkel will launch its B2B e-shop, establishing 1 to 1 customer relationships. The aim of Henkel is to significantly expand its digital sales in the business.
Henkel reported 0.6 percent decrease in sales to 19.899 billion euros in 2018. Adjusted operating profit (EBIT) rose 1 percent to 3.496 billion euros.
Rajani Baburajan
