Developing new markets together and inspiring customers with an expanded product range: To this end, the two self-adhesive materials specialists, Wausau Coated Products (WCP) with headquarters in Wausau, Wisconsin, USA, and the HERMA Group, with headquarters in Filderstadt, Germany, have entered into a strategic partnership. "Our two companies complement each other perfectly in terms of their product portfolios and market development to date," emphasises Ben Reif, President and CEO at WCP. "For example, the multi-layer technology perfected by HERMA allows the use of standard self-adhesive materials in an impressive way, even for challenging applications." Conversely, HERMA Managing Director Dr. Guido Spachtholz underlines the new strategic partner's extensive expertise in another area: "When it comes to self-adhesive materials for unusual specialty labels, such as for wine, spirits and beverages, WCP is a preferred development partner for label printers and users far beyond America."
Developing new markets together
The partnership will initially focus on marketing defined products under the brand name of the respective manufacturer. For example, WCP will distribute various HERMA self-adhesive materials in the Mexican market, where the German company has not been active to date. WCP, on the other hand, has already been operating a slitting centre for years and will be presenting HERMA products for the first time at LabelExpo Mexico in Guadalajara at the beginning of April (Stand D97). "With the self-adhesive material from HERMA, we can offer our numerous customers there even better solutions from a single source and emphasise our competence as a problem solver, even for high-volume applications," explains Dave Rosen, WCP Chief Growth Officer. In return, HERMA will distribute WCP specialty materials for spirit and wine labels in selected European markets, starting in Great Britain. "This is a very attractive and dynamically developing market. For capacity reasons, we have only been able to exploit its potential to a limited extent so far. Now we can perfectly serve this market and offer interesting and innovative solutions," explains Harald Wallner, HERMA Director Sales International. This is, for example, very high-quality structured paper, which is very popular with British whisky and gin producers. To ensure short delivery times, the British subsidiary HERMA UK, which operates its own slitting centre in Newbury, will rely on WCP products.
Independence of both companies ensured
Both companies emphasise that they are not aiming for a merger or a mutual equity participation. "Both WCP and HERMA are family-owned. That is our shared DNA. We don't want to change that," emphasises Dave Rosen. Heiko Henninger, HERMA Director Corporate Development & Legal, explains further: "With this collaboration, we will combine each partner’s individual and complementing strengths and open up the opportunity for synergetic growth across continents while staying independent. This offers our customers greater value and choice in a consolidating industry." Dr. Guido Spachtholz adds: "The owners in both cases are known for taking a very long-term and forward-looking approach. Stable and reliable partnerships have therefore always been an important basis for the development of our companies. The shared spirit, the hands-on mentality and the absolute customer focus of both companies make for a perfect match. We are very much looking forward to what lies ahead."
