Avery Dennison Opens Adhesives Research Center

MENTOR, Ohio—Avery Dennison, a global leader in pressure-sensitive technology and materials, has opened its new Adhesives Center of Excellence research center in Mill Hall, Pa. The 24,500-square-foot facility expands the space currently devoted in Mill Hall to research and development of adhesives, one of the company’s core technologies, and brings its adhesives researchers under one roof in state-of-the-art facilities.

“Our company was founded on an innovative use of adhesives, and we’re dedicated to remaining the innovation leader in this space,” said Dave Edwards, vice president and chief technology officer for Avery Dennison. “Bringing our full team together in Mill Hall will facilitate collaboration and cross-pollination, and enable us to work faster and smarter to meet the needs of our converter customers and end users for more specialized, higher-performance, and more sustainable adhesives.”

Avery Dennison was founded in 1935 by R. Stanton Avery, who produced the first pressure-sensitive labels for retailers as a removable alternative to traditional glue-applied labels. Inventors at the company have since been granted more than 900 domestic and international patents for label materials and constructions, many of which involve adhesives. Among the company’s inventions are water-resistant adhesives, repulpable adhesives that allow the recycling of paper that contains stickers, multi-layer adhesives that can be removed from surfaces without leaving any residue, adhesives that allow labels to be easily washed away from the surface they cover, and many more industry firsts.

“Our goal for the center is to create a new generation of products that offer new functionality and value to our customers and enable Avery Dennison to offer new applications while also being more sustainable,” said Don Nolan, group vice president, Label and Packaging Materials. “For example, based on our leadership position in controlled architecture polymerization technology, we are commercializing new pressure-sensitive adhesives that can be used in structural applications and enable customers to simplify their design and manufacturing processes.”

In addition to serving as a corporate research center, Mill Hall will continue to serve as one of the company’s main adhesives manufacturing centers.