"Everyone Can Be an Inventor Every Day"

Christoph Dietrich (laughs): My children have also asked me that. No, I am certainly not a "chief inventor." My main tasks are to coordinate the innovation processes at tesa as an interface manager and to create a platform for new projects – which, by the way, are by no means only related to product development. Innovation takes place on very different levels. For example, it’s incredibly innovative when someone optimizes processes that nobody has thought about before. That’s why every employee can be an inventor – or better said, an innovator, and that can happen every day.

Innovations are the result of ideas or inventions that hold their ground in the market in the form of new products, processes or services, and generate sustainable value. In this respect, I disagree with calling something innovative that seems visionary at first, but doesn’t sell or create an impact. Then it’s more of a nice try than a real innovation.

Yes, absolutely! This is already apparent when you consider that more than 500 of the nearly 5,000 employees worldwide work in research and development. tesa invests around five percent of its annual sales in this area. We anticipate trends and constantly optimize and expand our technology portfolio, working closely with our customers and with external cooperation with our partners. But tesa can clearly also become more innovative. There is still room for improvement.

You would think so. But the secure bonding of components is only one important aspect. Adhesive tapes in mobile phones, for example, have to take on various additional functions such as light and heat management. Sometimes reconciling totally different requirements is like squaring the circle. An example is when only a very narrow bonding surface area is available, but the foam tape is also supposed to act as a shock absorber.

We see that the trend is increasingly toward so-called productive adhesive tapes. This means the tapes don’t just take on a temporary function and are then disposed of, but that they remain in the final product throughout its entire life cycle – in a car, for example. In addition, digitalization has fully reached the adhesive tape business. Today, it’s no longer enough to visit the customer with a case full of samples. Digital tools and services are more in demand than ever. It’s no longer a problem to quickly exchange information and solve a problem with a business partner who is several thousand kilometers away. Overall, service orientation and the pace of the market have increased significantly.

With our 64 affiliates, we have reached a size that makes many things easier, but at the same time more difficult. As far as the innovation culture is concerned, we have to make sure that our structures, which are sometimes very complex, don’t paralyze the organization. That’s why we launched a large-scale innovation initiative at the end of 2017. In this respect, it’s also one of my jobs to create the best possible conditions for agile work. This is something that (potential) colleagues, who want to continually push the boundaries of adhesive technology and develop innovative products, are looking for.