H.B. Fuller is among the leading manufacturers and suppliers of industrial adhesives for various applications. In the new issue of our magazine, we had the opportunity to interview Ozan Günay, HHC Türkiye Country Manager at H.B. Fuller.
H.B. Fuller ranks among the leading manufacturers and suppliers of industrial adhesives for diverse applications. In the new issue of our publication, we had the opportunity to conduct an interview with Ozan Günay, HHC Turkey Country Manager at H.B. Fuller.
Could you briefly tell us about yourself, your educational background, and your strong professional experience in the sector?
After completing my schooling with an emphasis on quantitative education, I began my career having graduated in industrial engineering. My professional journey started in technical sales and continued over the years with intensive training in finance and sales. I initially represented a Japanese brand for four years, working on robotic system solutions for the food, plastics, automotive, and electronics sectors. Subsequently, I spent 3.5 years at a European company specializing in industrial conveyor solutions, focusing on the automotive sector and contributing to major projects.
For the past seven years, I have been working at H.B. Fuller on health, hygiene, and consumer products. Currently, I am responsible for the HHC (Health, Hygiene & Consumables) global business unit in Turkey.
Could you outline the development process of H.B. Fuller since its establishment?
More than a century ago, our founder Harvey Benjamin Fuller had a vision of formulating innovative, practical, and economical adhesives. This spirit continues to permeate everything we do today as a global leader in adhesive technology.
H.B. Fuller's story began when founder Harvey Benjamin Fuller discovered "Premium Liquid Fish Glue" in 1887—an adhesive that bonded everything from mechanics' tin cans to factory large shipments. Motivated by the success of his first adhesive, Harvey Fuller formulated more specialized adhesives, including Fuller's Premium Wet Paste Adhesive, used for bonding shoes, hanging wallpaper, repairing books, applying labels, and manufacturing boxes. Just as we do today, Fuller at that time focused on finding solutions for his customers. With a holistic approach, he even invented an adjustable—ergonomic—scaffolding to allow customers using wet adhesives to work more safely when hanging wallpaper.
Throughout our history, we have continuously used our knowledge to innovate. From the first hot melt adhesives to becoming one of the first American companies to specialize in waterproof adhesives, H.B. Fuller pioneered the use of adhesives to improve products and lives. Today, our focus on innovation brings together people, products, and processes to solve some of the world's biggest bonding challenges.
Today, H.B. Fuller serves 30 market segments with more than 7,000 employees across 35 countries worldwide and offers more than 10,000 adhesive solutions.
What are the core products and services your company offers?
H.B. Fuller is the world's largest adhesive manufacturer with adhesives as its sole business globally, offering a broad range of adhesive technology to 30 market segments—including packaging, beverages, printing, health, hygiene, automotive and EV batteries, caravans, electronics, solar energy, footwear, furniture, windows, and construction industries.
What are the latest trends and developments shaping the adhesive industry?
Adhesives are added as a small component to the diverse applications mentioned above, so all recent trends in these sectors are related to adhesives to some extent. We primarily focus on sustainability and efficiency improvement trends; we are working on new regulations, food safety and human health, compostable & biodegradable materials.
We work closely with sectoral associations to understand new regulations that could impact our customers' industries.
What specific trends do you see in the Turkish market, and how is H.B. Fuller responding to these trends?
Since Turkey conducts extensive food and beverage production, the sector is experiencing many innovations and changes. Particularly when it comes to sustainability and recyclability, our proximity to the EU influences the latest developments.
For example, in the beverage market, washing technology for both glass and PET bottles is of great importance. Breweries demand that labels be washed flawlessly as bottles are refilled. Our Earthic™ labeling technology reduces water temperatures and caustic levels while maintaining high levels of ice water and condensation water resistance for high-speed lines handling up to 60,000 bottles per hour. On the other hand, cartons are now being packaged in multiple groups, avoiding shrink and other plastic packaging. H.B. Fuller is pioneering the industry by offering innovative solutions with customers in new packaging designs.
In sealing cardboard boxes for all types of food and consumer goods, highly efficient adhesives are used extensively. To meet this need, H.B. Fuller developed Advantra® BOLD 9435, a specialized product for a wide range of cardboard and corrugated board types. This is an unparalleled product in terms of price/performance.
On the other hand, we are well aware of the special requirements of Turkey's ceramic industry regarding the packaging of hot tiles in cardboard boxes. Our professional-grade Advantra® BOLD 9490 ensures package integrity throughout the supply chain for ceramic tile manufacturers.
The graphic sector in Turkey continues to grow, and H.B. Fuller has developed a high-performance hotmelt adhesive that delivers higher page pull values with 50% less adhesive on coated and virgin pulp papers. Our customers are experiencing strong product performance of Swifttherm Advantage 8800 for both books and magazines, significantly reducing their annual adhesive spending while streamlining operations without needing to switch to PUR technology.
Paper straws are a growing application area as many countries ban plastic straws and other single-use plastic products. Focusing on sustainable applications, H.B. Fuller has developed excellent adhesives for various machine manufacturers for production at high speeds up to 140 m/minute.
These are just a few examples of how H.B. Fuller assists its business partners in the Turkish market with technology development, consumption reduction, and achieving maximum efficiency from their equipment.
What strategies do you use to stand out and maintain your position in the highly competitive adhesive market?
We continuously enhance our knowledge about potential applications and markets where our products are used. I believe we penetrate all capillaries quickly and effectively. By listening impartially to our business partners' demands and developing new ideas or improving existing ones, we do our best to be the most effective adhesive partner in the industry. We continue on our path, drawing lessons from the past while maintaining our future focus in a changing world.
What are your predictions for the future of the adhesive industry?
Our customers face increasingly demanding requirements in terms of innovations and regulatory requirements. Adhesive suppliers must keep pace with the speed of product innovation, integrate alternative raw materials without compromising performance, and provide critical connectivity among all industry partners.
The adhesive industry will become increasingly competitive; some players will drive innovation and sustainable development, while others will focus on existing technologies and efficiency and cost-focused work.
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