Henkel Consolidates North America R&D
Henkel is streamlining its research and development efforts for its North America business, consolidating three campuses into a single center.
The Center of Research & Development will be located in Trumbull, Connecticut, marking the company's largest non-manufacturing capital investment in North America over the past decade.
The $70 million center will bring together functional groups such as product development, analytics, packaging, processing, product safety, microbiology and regulatory affairs to support the hair, body, laundry and home care categories. This includes brands such as Persil, All, Snuggle and Dial.
Once complete, it will span 10 acres of land and 110,000 square feet, bringing on 200 employees across 27 labs and three pilot plants.
This brings together Henkel's North America consumer brands R&D teams, which currently operate across three separate Connecticut locations. The streamlined operations will help drive accelerated collaboration and creativity and consumer-centric innovation.
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The campus currently includes two facilities. A third will soon serve as the campus hub, featuring a two-story, 45,000-square-foot building designed with LEED Gold certification that meets sustainability standards.
"We are excited to begin this next chapter for Henkel Consumer Brands R&D in North America," Phil Schaffer, corporate SVP for Henkel's North America consumer brands business, said in a statement. "Innovation is deeply rooted in our DNA, and bringing our teams together will enable us to deliver transformative solutions that delight consumers and customers and have the potential to shape category trends."
The full center is set to be completed by the end of 2027. Henkel will continue to operate its North America region headquarters at Rocky Hill, Connecticut, and its consumer brands regional office in Stamford.
