Henkel Adhesive Technologies: From dashboards to decisions: Building a scalable, people-led digital transformation at 124 sites
By
Jané, Joan
Henkel Adhesive Technologies, the world’s largest adhesives business with 124 factories worldwide, launched a global digital transformation to overcome fragmented systems, inconsistent data, and cultural resistance to digital tools. In 2022 it created Adhesive Operations Digital (AOD), a hub-and-spoke team that cleaned and standardized data, developed decision-focused tools, and rolled them out regionally through a mix of global dashboards and site-specific solutions. Rather than enforcing standards, AOD built trust by exposing misalignments and proving value through pilots that scaled across sites. By 2024, trusted data pipelines and digital tools were in use, enabling better decisions in areas like energy, waste, and supply chain performance. Looking ahead to 2025, Henkel’s priorities include unifying KPIs into a single global platform, scaling proven use cases, and embedding digital literacy so that people, not just dashboards, drive lasting impact.
Collection: IESE (España)
Ref: OIT-66-E
Format: PDF
Number of pages: 12
Publication Date: Sep 22, 2025
Language: English, Spanish
Description
Henkel Adhesive Technologies, the world’s largest adhesives business with 124 factories worldwide, launched a global digital transformation to overcome fragmented systems, inconsistent data, and cultural resistance to digital tools. In 2022 it created Adhesive Operations Digital (AOD), a hub-and-spoke team that cleaned and standardized data, developed decision-focused tools, and rolled them out regionally through a mix of global dashboards and site-specific solutions. Rather than enforcing standards, AOD built trust by exposing misalignments and proving value through pilots that scaled across sites. By 2024, trusted data pipelines and digital tools were in use, enabling better decisions in areas like energy, waste, and supply chain performance. Looking ahead to 2025, Henkel’s priorities include unifying KPIs into a single global platform, scaling proven use cases, and embedding digital literacy so that people, not just dashboards, drive lasting impact.
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Year: 2022
Geographic Setting: Spain
Industry Setting: Engineering and design
Learning Objective
1. Understand the challenges of digital transformation in global manufacturing—including fragmented systems, inconsistent data, and varying levels of digital maturity.
2. Analyze the role of governance and culture in building trust in data and ensuring that digital tools are actually used for decision-making.
3. Evaluate a hub-and-spoke organizational model for balancing global standardization with local adaptation.
4. Assess how to scale digital initiatives—moving from pilots and dashboards to enterprise-wide adoption.
5. Explore how digital transformation links to broader business goals, such as sustainability, productivity, and supply chain resilience.
6. Examine change management strategies that shift employee behavior from mistrust of data to data-driven decision-making.
2. Analyze the role of governance and culture in building trust in data and ensuring that digital tools are actually used for decision-making.
3. Evaluate a hub-and-spoke organizational model for balancing global standardization with local adaptation.
4. Assess how to scale digital initiatives—moving from pilots and dashboards to enterprise-wide adoption.
5. Explore how digital transformation links to broader business goals, such as sustainability, productivity, and supply chain resilience.
6. Examine change management strategies that shift employee behavior from mistrust of data to data-driven decision-making.
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"Henkel Adhesive Technologies: From dashboards to decisions: Building a scalable, people-led digital transformation at 124 sites"
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