{"id":39233,"date":"2020-11-07T11:13:50","date_gmt":"2020-11-07T10:13:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/packaging-journal.de\/?p=39233"},"modified":"2020-11-01T12:37:48","modified_gmt":"2020-11-01T11:37:48","slug":"traditional-company-herma","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/packaging-journal.de\/en\/traditionsunternehmen-herma\/","title":{"rendered":"Herma - pioneer of self-adhesive technology"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201eI sold the first labels to Daimler at the beginning of February.\u201c With these simple words, company founder and namesake Heinrich Hermann later described how it all began in 1906. Today, HERMA is a leading specialist in self-adhesive technology with more than 1,000 employees.<\/p>\n

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Company founder Heinrich Hermann (Image: Herma)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Just a few weeks before the \u201eDaimler coup\u201c, the Heinrich Hermann<\/strong> He set up his own printing business: with a high-speed press, a cutting machine and a perforating machine, all bought second-hand for the very considerable sum of 6,200 marks. He was always on the lookout for Improvements<\/strong>, He constantly developed new products and even tinkered with the necessary production machines because they were not available to buy as he imagined them. In many cases, he applied for design protection and patents.<\/p>\n

The result of this origin<\/h2>\n

Almost exactly 115 years after its foundation Herma<\/a> with adhesive materials, labels and labelling machines on a comprehensive range of products that is almost unique in the world. Expertise in self-adhesive technology<\/strong> to fall back on. At its headquarters in Filderstadt, the company brings together disciplines as diverse as paper and film processing, printing technology and mechanical engineering under one roof. The company has just invested over 100 million euros in the construction of a ultra-modern production<\/strong> for labelling machines and another labelstock plant. The two new production facilities went into operation in 2019 and 2020 respectively.<\/p>

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View of part of the HERMA headquarters in Filderstadt (Image: Herma)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Masterplan until 2040<\/h2>\n

Both production facilities are located on the site that Herma only acquired in mid-2015 in the immediate vicinity of its headquarters. The investments made are just the first stage of a master plan for the 80,000 square metre site, which will extend until 2040. \u201eWith the gradual realisation of this master plan, we once again have the opportunity to secure the company's growth at this location over several generations,\u201c says the Managing Directors Sven Schneller and Dr Thomas Baumg\u00e4rtner<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

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\u201eThe pioneering spirit of founder Heinrich Hermann, his wealth of ideas and his perseverance are deeply rooted in HERMA's DNA,\u201c emphasise the two Managing Directors Sven Schneller (right) and Dr Thomas Baumg\u00e4rtner (Image: Herma)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Herma already employs well over 1,000 people, who together generated a turnover of 364.4 million euros in 2019. HERMA has its own subsidiaries in England, France, the Netherlands, Austria and the USA; the export ratio for the company as a whole is stable at 60 per cent, but significantly higher in the two divisions of adhesive materials and labelling machines: The company enjoys an excellent reputation worldwide.<\/p>\n

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The coating systems for adhesive materials are among the most modern of their kind in the world (Image: Herma)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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In the 1950s, the company began to produce its own adhesive material for the production of self-adhesive labels (Image: Herma)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The triumph of self-adhesive technology<\/h2>\n

Curiously, Heinrich Hermann, of all people, did not live to see this development. When he died in 1939 at the age of just 69, self-adhesive, i.e. Labels with a pressure-sensitive adhesive are still unknown in this country<\/strong>. Rubberised labels were still used, which had to be laboriously moistened. But under the leadership of the company founder's two sons, Werner and Heinrich Hermann Jr, this changed soon after the war.<\/p>\n

At the beginning of the 1950s, they noticed how the \u201esupermarkets\u201c began their triumphant advance in the USA and correctly surmised that this trend would reach Germany: It is only a matter of time before this trend reaches Germany. Therefore Labels for price labelling<\/strong> The adhesive is needed that can be applied quickly, i.e. self-adhesively, and that adheres to as many different surfaces as possible without any problems.<\/p>\n

Self-adhesive labels become a bestseller<\/strong><\/h2>\n

However, the idea was not so easy to realise. This was because the adhesive material, the \u201eraw material\u201c for it, was initially difficult to procure in the quality required. Without further ado, Herma began coating paper webs with the appropriate adhesive itself and to self-adhesive labels<\/strong> to process.<\/p>\n

As they were the pioneers in this field in Germany, the start was difficult and arduous. An important step for Werner and Heinrich Hermann jun. was to develop the production machines themselves. After all, the company founder had done the same at the time. Their commitment and perseverance paid off.<\/p>\n

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HERMA begins to develop international markets at an early stage. (Here is a view of the export department, probably in the early 1960s, photo: Herma)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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The so-called F device is the ancestor of today's HERMA labellers. It
was developed in 1960 (Image: Herma)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Rapid development<\/h2>\n

However, one prerequisite for their mass use was the ability to apply them quickly, precisely and reliably to millions of products. So what could be more obvious than to combine the product knowledge gained to date with the company's own experience in mechanical engineering? After several manually operated devices, Herma developed The first electrically operated label dispenser in 1959<\/strong>, a year later, the \u201eancestor\u201c of modern labellers. Meanwhile, the company's own adhesive material proved to be so good and so popular that it was not only used for the company's own labels, but was also sold to other label printers.<\/p>\n

From 1950 to 1976 the company's turnover increased thirtyfold<\/strong>. Today, the three divisions operate independently of each other on the market. This makes the company as a whole both flexible and extremely crisis-proof.<\/p>\n

The courage to break new ground<\/h2>\n

However, the most important basis for the company's continuous growth is and remains Innovative thinking and action<\/strong>. Today, Herma is an international innovation leader in adhesive materials. The main focus here is on combining paper and film materials, adhesive, backing material and silicone at very high speeds and with extreme precision. With the entry into the revolutionary Curtain Coating, the curtain coating,<\/strong> and later as a pioneer in multi-layer technology, the company has set standards.<\/p>\n

Multi-layer technology in particular has helped to open up new possibilities for label printers and users around the world and the best growth opportunities for Herma. This is because labels made from adhesive material with multi-layer adhesive systems can now combine properties that previously required expensive speciality adhesives, if solutions were available at all. These include, for example, very good adhesion even under extreme conditions and yet the possibility of subsequent, uncomplicated, residue-free wash-off, which is the decisive step for many recycling processes.<\/p>\n

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Where things need to run smoothly, labellers such as the flagship HERMA 500 - shown here fully equipped - are increasingly the first choice (Image: Herma)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Efficiency and cost-effectiveness<\/h2>\n

The series production of labellers and complete labelling machines can be combined with a high degree of variability in application. It enables the experts to produce large quantities at the highest quality level and at the same time cater to the needs of very different industries.<\/p>\n

Whether Pharmaceuticals, food or consumer goods<\/strong>The efficiency and cost-effectiveness of entire production lines depend on the reliable labelling of large quantities at high cycle rates. One outstanding example is the Herma 500 labeller, which is unique worldwide thanks to its combination of high performance and comprehensive connectivity, maximum flexibility and optimum operability.<\/p>\n

Bundled specialised knowledge<\/h2>\n

Although the three business units operate independently, Herma benefits greatly from the combined specialised knowledge in self-adhesive technology. Rarely has this been as tangible as with the InNo-Liner system, for which Herma won the German Packaging Award in the Sustainability category<\/strong> received. It is probably the first liner-free labelling concept that really meets the requirements of shipping and logistics centres. This allows huge amounts of material to be saved on shipping labels.<\/p>\n

In the most important shipping nations alone, around 100 billion shipping labels are currently produced every year. Until now, this has meant thousands of tonnes of document paper that had to be disposed of at great expense. The InNo-Liner system puts an end to this. Users are particularly impressed by the simplicity of the system, which consists of a combined activation and dispensing unit and a special adhesive material. The activation unit for the initially non-tacky adhesive is purely water-based. This means: no solvents, no heat and no other agents with various undesirable side effects. And the label user is practically Free choice of label paper<\/strong>It does not require a silicone layer and therefore allows great freedom in pre-printing.<\/p>\n

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Labels continue to be an important mainstay: whether printed conventionally or digitally (as shown here), state-of-the-art production and logistics technology is used (Image: Herma)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A solid foundation for the company's success<\/h2>\n

The reinvention of the label, this \u201egame changer\u201c - the energetic and hands-on company founder Heinrich Hermann would have been delighted. Today, Herma has 29 shareholders. They are all fourth generation descendants of Heinrich Hermann<\/strong>. However, the family withdrew completely from management back in 1982. Instead of the principle of \u201efamily in the company\u201c, for almost 40 years Herma has therefore applied the principle of the strong corporate family, which is united in its basic attitude, seeks close proximity to the company, but leaves the operational side to the best external management.<\/p>\n

\u201eEven today's family shareholders are always concerned with creating a sustainable basis for the company's success. This has a lot to do with sustainability in the broadest sense,\u201c explains Managing Director Sven Schneller. \u201eAnd this means that the family is still an important anchor in turbulent times.\u201c<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

This article is in the packaging journal 8\/2020<\/a> published<\/em><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201eI sold the first labels to Daimler at the beginning of February\u201c, with these simple words, company founder and namesake Heinrich Hermann later described how it all began in 1906. Today, Herma is a leading specialist in self-adhesive technology with more than 1,000 employees.","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":39244,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"__cvm_playback_settings":[],"__cvm_video_id":"","rank_math_description":"","rank_math_focus_keyword":"","rank_math_title":"","csco_display_header_overlay":false,"csco_singular_sidebar":"","csco_page_header_type":"","csco_page_load_nextpost":"","csco_post_video_location":[],"csco_post_video_location_hash":"","csco_post_video_url":"","csco_post_video_bg_start_time":0,"csco_post_video_bg_end_time":0,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[28,114],"tags":[42,58785,63,39],"class_list":{"0":"post-39233","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-aus-dem-magazin","8":"category-aus-den-unternehmen-news","9":"tag-etikettieren-kennzeichnen-codieren","10":"tag-herma","11":"tag-traditionsunternehmen","12":"tag-verpackungstechnik","13":"cs-entry","14":"cs-video-wrap"},"acf":[],"vimeo_video":null,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/packaging-journal.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39233","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/packaging-journal.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/packaging-journal.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/packaging-journal.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/packaging-journal.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=39233"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/packaging-journal.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39233\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/packaging-journal.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/39244"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/packaging-journal.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39233"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/packaging-journal.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=39233"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/packaging-journal.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=39233"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}