“Our Goal Is to Solve Our Clients’ Real Challenges Using Our Polymer Formulating Knowhow”

Regardless of whether you call it glue, resin, coating, or sealant – Adhestick Innovations, headquartered in Rosh Haayin, will supply it. Founded in 1938, the company was acquired by Mike Burshtine and Ran Grodecki, in 2016, and the two currently serve as Adhestick’s CEO and Chairman, respectively. Together, they supply polymer technologies to many industries.

“If I were to define us, I’d call us a company that specializes in the development, manufacturing, and marketing of polymer formulations for various worlds both industrial and B2C,” Burshtine says. “We specialize in providing solutions for some of real challenges. The Yarkoni family, who founded the company, made it their mission to fill this niche. Six years ago, we took their vision into our own hands and continue to realize their mission, with some of the family’s members still partnering with us. Not everyone knows that the use of polymers is on the rise across various applications, including those that, until recent years, required mechanical solutions, such as soldering, screws, and entire mechanical grip systems. We define our scope of operations according to our ability to provide polymer based solutions, without limiting ourselves to a particular business field or application.”

“Our added value lies in our ability to provide solutions using polymers that have glue-like attributes,” Grodecki clarifies. “Our goal is to solve our clients’ real challenges, by applying polymer technologies based on our development team’s knowledge and expertise.” “This our development guidline,” Burshtein adds, “and what guides us to new fields, such as 3-D printing, which, by the way, if you want to be more precise, is called ‘additive manufacturing’ We supply this printing field with strong materials that have unique physical properties and high chemical durability. These materials have higher properties of those that are currently available on the market. Among their benefits, they enable high geometric complexity upon printing, while maintaining the final product’s quality.

“Adhestick’s strength lies in the company’s professional, dedicated team, which is driven to succeed,” Grodecki explains. “50 people who study, develop, and produce final products that best meet the client’s requirements. We take the challenge - as defined by the client’s requirements – to the lab, where we create a solution using materials and chemistry. Raw materials are then purchased, manufactured, marketed, and supplied to the client as a final product, in real-time and at the promised level of quality. The entire system works together to drive the client’s success, which is evidenced in the long-term relationships we’ve formed with our many clients.”

Innovative materials for the bicycle industry

Burshtine and Grodecki recount that, when they acquired the company, they made the decision to zero in on several main areas of focus: strengthening the company’s technological capabilities, upgrading and reinforcing their brand and marketing endeavors, making their products “greener” in order to become a more environmentally-friendly company, and implementing a growth strategy that includes organic growth, as well as mergers and acquisitions. Thus, for example, Adhestick acquired German company CPH, which specializes in green glues for affixing labels to various types of bottles. “We strengthened our brand in the OEM world as well. We serve as a White Label for various private brands, some of which are large players in the bicycle industry,” Burshtine indicates.

What is your role in this field?

Grodecki: “We developed a long line of products for maintaining and using all kinds of bicycles, from city bikes and electric bikes to mountain, road and off-road expensive bicycles – even ultra-professional bikes used on the Tour de France. Our leading product in this field is sealant, which prevents punctures. It’s a liquid substance that’s placed on the tire or the bicycle’s inner tube. This way, even if the cyclist rides over thorns, nails, or glass, the substance flows to the hole – up to a certain size - and immediately fills it. The cyclist doesn’t even realize that a puncture occurred. This is one of the field’s leading products. We also have other bicycle-related products: maintenance materials such as soaps, oils, and auxiliary components for the Tube-Less space.

We market these products in 60 countries around the world, under the name Joe’s No-Flats. A broad range of the world’s leading bicycle, tire, and wheel manufacturers use our services, and market our products under their brands.”

The best adhesives to meet clients’ needs

Adhestick leads the fields of developing, manufacturing, and marketing various adhesives, using different polymers for different industries. Included in their offering are contact glues and PSA glues – water and solvent-based – that are adapted to clients’ needs, according to various parameters: environmental, chemical, curing rate, storage and working temperatures, shelf life, application method, and more. The company’s adhesives can be used in several ways: through manual spreading, automatic spreading, and spraying. When a client states a particular requirement, the company studies the precise need and customizes the best-fitting glue – or develops an entirely new one.

“When it comes to hiking sandals, for example, there’s a need for an adhesive that’s capable of handling exposure to a wide range of temperatures, sand, water, salt water, and more,” Burshtine says. “These are things that we take into consideration, when approached by a client from this field. We look at their requirements and challenges, and develop the right solution to meet them, head-on. In this context, it’s important to understand that industrial adhesives is a very tricky field. While the manufactured product may be considered “low-tech”, the technological requirements can, at times, be quite high. At the end of the day, the glue serves as just 1% of the final product, but is critical for the product ability to fulfill 100% of its purpose. Without the glue, it would be impossible to put the product together, and it wouldn’t be able to function as designed.”

Grodecki: “We serve a ton of industries. Building and infrastructure, shoes, furniture, rubber boats, thermal and acoustic insulation, agriculture, and even the light rail tunnels in Tel Aviv. After all, almost everywhere you’ll find a product, you’ll find an adhesive.”

A connection to the world of science

Since Grodecki mentioned agriculture, I found myself wondering how adhesives were related to this field. “When it comes to the agricultural industry, we develop, manufacture, and market pesticide products that do not contain hazardous ingredients – “green substances.” Adhestick develops products that enable the farmer to eliminate or drive pests away from their crops, without any arming chemical substances,” Burshtine responds. “We have a patented product that prevents ants from climbing up trees. Its added value is that it remains effective for six months – or even longer - in all environmental conditions. It’s safe for use for the crops, water, soil, and even to the ants themselves. It prevents them from climbing on the tree, but doesn’t kill them. Our other solutions enable farmers to dramatically reduce the amount of pests in their fields and greenhouses, and achieve larger yields, without worrying about them containing pesticides or other chemical materials, which could be harmful to their health or environment.”

What are the company’s plans for the future?

“To continue expanding the company through internal growth, additional acquisitions, and various collaborations. To add polymer technologies we aren’t currently working with, such as epoxy. To enrich the company’s partnerships and academic cooperation focusing on the relevant substances. The connection with the scientific world is one of Adhestick’s founding blocks, and it will remain as such.”

Partnered with Adhestick