Expansion of tesa Site Sparta - Solvent-free facility opens its doors for customers and partners

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Sep 29, 2023

tesa Site Sparta in Michigan becomes a solvent-free production facility and gains more production space.
The investment underscores tesa's sustainability strategy and demonstrates commitment to the US market and the state of Michigan.
The expansion includes a new Customer Solution Center where partners and customers can collaborate with tesa experts to test new product solutions on-site.

Norderstedt / Sparta, September 29, 2023 – With over 16,000 square meters of total space and a production area of 10,000 square meters, tesa Site Sparta in the state of Michigan is now ready for take-off. After more than two years of construction, tesa, an international manufacturer of innovative adhesive tapes and self-adhesive product solutions, has completed its expansion project in Kent County, USA. The Sparta facility, established in 1982, was tesa's first manufacturing site outside of Europe. With this expansion, customers in the automotive, transportation and logistics, electronics, construction, corrugated paper, and printing industries can now access solvent-free adhesive tapes. The investment is an important step for tesa in the implementation of its ambitious sustainability strategy, which includes the reduction and recovery of solvents and the increased use of bio-based and recycled raw materials.

tesa Site Sparta elevates presence in North America and sustainability efforts

tesa's Sparta facility is pursuing a comprehensive strategy. In addition to solvent-free production, the site now features an expanded Technology and Product Development Lab and a Customer Solution Center where customers can collaborate with tesa to test and develop more sustainable solutions. This step aims to strengthen tesa's partnerships with customers and partners in the USA, Canada, and Mexico, offering comprehensive solutions from a single source. "This is a special day for us," says Tobias Banik, President and Regional Manager of tesa tape North America. "The completion of the site expansion, including the new equipment and the Customer Solution Center, represents a significant milestone for tesa, enhancing our presence in North America and our sustainability efforts. Our main work begins now, and we look forward to utilizing our new space to develop better, more sustainable products for and with our customers."

"North America is an important region for us in which we want to grow strongly,” adds Dr. Jörg Diesfeld, Chief Financial Officer of tesa. "To emphasize this and align it with our sustainability goals, we have taken a strategic step in this direction with this major investment. We have the right experts on site and the necessary facilities to achieve sustainable growth. The expansion is not only about strengthening our presence in North America, but also about strengthening our global footprint, emphasizing our technical development focus, and driving innovation forward.”

Increased production space and new machinery for more sustainable products

With the completion of the construction work, the facility now boasts an additional 2,500 square meters of manufacturing space, increasing the total area to over 16,000 square meters. This new area houses production equipment designed with a "zero waste" concept, which is expected to reduce gas consumption by approximately 40% once the older machinery is permanently decommissioned later this year. The facility also includes a large product development area, in addition to the new Customer Solution Center. While this phase of construction is completed, another phase is set to begin, which will include the construction of a warehouse.

Stefan Schmidt, Head of Supply Network at tesa, says: "With the expansion of the tesa Sparta site, we have reached another milestone in our sustainability strategy. We can now offer our customers products without solvents. In addition, we can extensively test products and application solutions with them on site in our Customer Solution Centers. The expansion of the site and the conversion to a solvent-free process in Sparta are important building blocks in our sustainability strategy. Optimizing and modernizing our production technologies and achieving climate-neutral production by 2030 are important cornerstones on which we are focusing."

The expansion of the plant in Sparta, Michigan, was presented to customers and partners during a festive opening ceremony yesterday.

About tesa SE

As a multinational company, tesa develops innovative adhesive tapes and self-adhesive product solutions for various industries, commercial customers, and end consumers. There are already more than 7,000 tesa adhesive solutions that help improve the work, products or lives of our customers. Today, the focus is on sustainability and energy-saving processes. tesa invests in the development of environmentally friendly products and solvent-free manufacture processes as well as in the use of renewable energy sources at its locations.

tesa is active in 100 countries and operates plants in Germany, Italy, China, the USA, and soon also in Vietnam. Around three quarters of the tesa Group’s sales (2022: EUR 1.7 billion euro) are generated by applications for industries. Together with its international clients, tesa develops innovations that are customized at product and process level. Already more than 130 tesa tapes may be installed in an electric car and over 70 in a smartphone. In the printing and construction industries, too, tesa is constantly penetrating new segments and countries with its special adhesive tapes. The company generates almost one quarter of its sales with products for end consumers and professional craftsmen. 300 applications, such as the legendary tesafilm®, make life easier or, when it comes to insect protection, even make it a bit more pleasant. tesa counts among the world’s leading manufacturers of adhesive solutions. Since 2001, tesa SE is an independent 100% affiliate of Beiersdorf AG (i.e., NIVEA, Eucerin, la prairie) with approx. 5,000 employees today.