Take over and new hot melt
H.B. FULLER has acquired the assets of Liquamelt, the manufacturer of the Liquamelt(R) adhesive system.
“Liquamelt is an unusual adhesive system,” says Jim Owens, president and chief executive officer. “This ‘Cool on Delivery – Hot on Demand’ technology is a new category of adhesives and will enable us to help our customers drive cost and complexity from their processes with technology that is based on sustainable and available raw materials. The acquisition of Liquamelt adhesive technology demonstrates our commitment to rapid innovation and new product delivery to the adhesives industry.”
Liquamelt adhesive flows at room temperature and combines with easy to use delivery equipment to create a fast-bonding, high-performing adhesive solution. It enables room temperature storage and handling of adhesive, where today traditional hot-melt tank and hose temperatures reach as high as 350 degrees Fahrenheit (180 degrees Celsius). Liquamelt adhesive contains greater than 40 percent renewable raw materials, allows for significant mileage improvements, and results in reduced overall energy consumption. This closed system is easy to maintain and remains free of contamination.
Liquamelt currently employs eight people. In addition to the material and equipment patents, the principal assets acquired include equipment and inventory. The Liquamelt system is expected to generate less than $1 million in revenue in 2011. The financial results of this business will be included in the H.B. Fuller’s North America operating segment. The Liquamelt adhesive system will be available exclusively from H.B. Fuller. The company will leverage its global market position and technical expertise to accelerate adoption of this new category of superior adhesive technology and add value to its customers’ products and processes.
Advantra Encore
H.B Fuller has also launched Advantra Encore adhesive, a new custom designed, proprietary technology platform that it claims transforms hot melt performance surpassing that of metallocene-based packaging adhesives.
“H.B. Fuller invented the category of high performance hot melts more than a decade ago with our Advantra line. Since then, no other supplier has been able to upgrade the standard of performance until now,” said Barry Snyder, chief technology officer of H.B. Fuller.
To develop the Advantra Encore platform, H.B. Fuller went beyond conventional formulating. The H.B. Fuller team custom designed a hot melt for high performance case and carton sealing. Drawing upon its nearly 125 years of adhesives experience, H.B. Fuller invented the Advantra Encore platform to provide superior bonding, higher mileage and broader service temperature range compared to traditional packaging hot melt technologies (metallocene-based or EVA).
Advantra Encore adhesive is specifically designed for exceptional bonding on a broad range of challenging substrates including coated stocks and high recycled-content board. Due to its aggressive hot tack, Advantra Encore hot melt can grab and hold quickly to prevent pop-opens with high-memory board. This high level of performance also offers the potential to switch to lower cost boards that are challenging to seal. The Advantra Encore combination of low density and exceptional bonding provides more mileage than metallocene-based or EVA hot melt adhesives. As a result, the Advantra Encore platform delivers exceptional value for the long run. From deep freeze to hot fill, one Advantra Encore product performs across broad service temperature ranges (-20 degrees to 140 degrees F/-29 degrees to 60 degrees C). With Advantra Encore hot melt, case and carton sealers no longer have to rely on multiple adhesive products to handle varying service temperatures, which may lead to other manufacturing benefits such as simplifying operations, improving efficiency and reducing maintenance.
H.B. FULLER:
T: +1 651 236 5900