Henkel has production sites in 52 countries. In addition, we have administrative, research and marketing sites in many countries, as well as warehouses and distribution centers. By improving existing plants, processes and structures and developing new ones, we continuously increase the safety and efficiency of these sites while reducing their resource consumption and their impact on the environment. Computer-aided simulation programs help with the efficient configuration and control of individual plants and extensive production and logistics structures. Additionally, we contribute to technical and social progress through the worldwide transfer of knowledge and technology between the sites.

To ensure the Company-wide implementation of our standards for safety, health and the environment (SHE standards), we carry out regular audits at all production sites. In 2007, five regional health, safety and environment audits were carried out in North America, Australia and New Zealand, the Philippines and Malaysia, Tunisia, and Turkey. All in all, our auditors inspected 27 sites. A total of 648 audit criteria were examined, and action was found to be needed in 34 cases. In one instance, a grave occupational health and safety risk resulted in the immediate shutdown of the concerned part of the plant. It was only restarted after the necessary corrective measures had been taken.

We have our environmental management systems at the individual sites externally certified, if this yields competitive advantages. At the end of 2007, about 57 percent of the production volume came from sites certified to the international ISO 14001 environmental management standard.

Our logistics planning is tailored to the nature of the products to be transported. For relatively bulky products, we reduce the transport mileage and the environmental burden by maintaining regional production sites. This applies especially to our Laundry & Home Care products, a well as to parts of the product portfolio of our Cosmetics and Consumer and Craftsmen Adhesives. More compact products with a low specific weight make fewer demands on transport, so we produce them centrally in large quantities wherever possible. Our instant and super glues, for examples, are produced at just three production sites worldwide.

Our production sites introduce individual measures and programs to respond to the challenges in the regions and align the company to local needs. The following are a number of exemplary projects implemented at site level through which the respective sites contribute to our focal areas. Measures relating to the focal area “Health & Safety” in production are summarized in the section “Occupational Safety”.

At many of our sites, we use the captured process heat from production to heat buildings. One example is our site in Vienna, Austria, where part of the superheated steam from the detergent production lines is used to generate hot water to heat the raw materials warehouse. During the summer, this heat is fed into the public district heating network of the city of Vienna. As a result of this and other measures, carbon dioxide emissions went down by almost 700 metric tons in 2007.

By installing its own steam generation facility, Henkel was able to cut annual carbon dioxide emissions from its Krusevac site by 20 percent. This involved the installation of a steam boiler, a hot water boiler, and a feed-water conditioning system. A new network of steam, hot water and condensate recycling pipelines was also laid. The change in infrastructure and optimization of the building heating system will permit the site to save more than 200,000 euros a year.

The Perm site’s existing compressed air generator has been optimized. This has enabled the facility to cut its electricity consumption by about 25 percent, corresponding to some 2,500 metric tons of carbon dioxide. Thanks to the reduced consumption of compressed air and energy, together with lower maintenance costs, the site expects to cut its annual costs by more than 300,000 euros.