‍1. What are some of the most significant trends and innovations you see shaping the future of the hygiene and packaging industry?
   
With the advancement of technology and smart manufacturing infrastructure and systems, adhesive solutions for the hygiene and packaging industry will have to support manufacturing efficiency. We will need adhesive solutions that can be more easily integrated with smarter manufacturing practices to enable businesses to keep up with innovation while addressing sustainability goals. The choice of adhesives should not be an afterthought but one that promotes greater efficiency.

Moreover, the relentless focus on reducing environmental impact has also called for the incorporating sustainable manufacturing practices. According to Honeywell and The Futurum Group’s Q3 2023 Environmental Sustainability Index, 45-60% of APAC companies achieved environmental sustainability targets in emissions reduction, circularity and recycling, pollution prevention, and energy evolution and efficiency. It also highlighted that APAC companies have plans to increase investments in energy evolution and efficiency by over 50% within 2024. Although representing only a small fraction of the objects they contribute to, adhesives can facilitate the transition to sustainable manufacturing by promoting reducibility. 

2. How do you ensure that Bostik's     products meet the diverse needs of customers in the Asia Pacific region?

‍Bostik is committed to delivering tailored solutions that address the unique requirements of our diverse customer base across the Asia Pacific region. As a region, while APAC is making strides in prioritizing sustainability goals and embracing sustainable manufacturing, we are not leading in this aspect yet, with diverse policies surrounding sustainable manufacturing, such as ASEAN’s Framework for Circular Economy. Hence, Bostik has set up an extensive network of local teams, which helps to ensure a deep understanding of the specific needs of the country.

Collaboration is key in facilitating this to ensure our teams stay agile and innovative in developing effective solutions for our local customers. Our product team works closely with the research chemists and material scientists to share their inputs on customer needs, and our technical support teams work on pilot applications and bonding process optimisations to develop and deliver cutting-edge solutions.  

3. What are the key differences and similarities in market trends between your region and Japan, and how do you and Mr. Ohno address these?

‍The Asia Pacific regions present a complex and dynamic landscape for the hygiene adhesive market. Based on the 2024 Hygiene Adhesive Market Report by Mordor Intelligence, countries like China and Japan are experiencing an increase in the ageing population, driving the demand for adult incontinence products in these regions. In contrast, markets in the wider Asia Pacific region, like India, which are characterised by high birth rates, are fuelling growth in the infant diaper market.

Despite the growing demands in different segments of the hygiene market, the need for sustainable, safe, affordable, and high-performing solutions remains a constant across the regions. To target these specific trends, our teams must identify the focus applications for each country. With Bostik’s expertise in specialised materials science combined with our industrial DNA for over 130 years, we are equipped to tailor innovative solutions to these market trends.

4. Can you elaborate on the collaborative projects between Bostik APAC and Bostik Japan, particularly  those involving cutting-edge adhesive technologies?

‍We recently launched Bostik Kizen™ PAD across Japan and the wider APAC region, a pad attachment adhesive with a consistent peel strength across a wide range of substrates. This adhesive solution enables manufacturers to reduce the amount of adhesive usage by 30% to produce 40% more pads. Mr Ohno and I, together with our teams, worked on this product to address both manufacturer and consumer needs – customer’s demand for softer, non-woven back sheets that offer no residue regardless of fabric choice and manufacturer’s demand for more sustainable adhesives that can keep up with higher production rates and sustainability goals.     Besides that, we are excited to share that our teams are now developing an adhesive solution for bookbinding applications, slated to launch in the Chinese and Japanese markets. Our product team realised that customers were finding it increasingly difficult to balance sustainability goals and the pace of FMCG production. This next-generation adhesive solution contains over 50% bio-based adhesive content, with an application temperature 10-20 °C lower than market solutions, designed to reduce carbon emissions.

5. What are the most significant technical hurdles you anticipate in developing next-generation adhesives, and how is Bostik APAC preparing to overcome them?

‍As more and more businesses strive towards their sustainability goals, packaging manufacturers are looking into incorporating more environmentally friendly options, resulting in saturation and acceleration of the market. The challenge is to create solutions that improve performance while reducing costs, lower pricing strategies, and offer new value propositions to customers. New entrants will need to navigate these same pressures and differentiate their offerings.

On the adhesive front, it is up to our internal teams to work together to develop adhesive solutions that are not just compatible with the latest trends and technologies, but also help to enable the adoption of them. For instance, we understand that customers demand products packaged in recyclable, compostable, and bio-based materials while still reaping cost savings. As such, we have developed our hot-melt adhesive technology for case and carton sealing, which increases production speeds, enhances food and consumer safety, and improves aesthetics. We are also constantly developing the next-generation versions of adhesive solutions, just like our upcoming book binding solutions with revised adhesive formulas. Please keep a look out for this product set to launch over the next few months!

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