UPM Raflatac rebrands as UPM Adhesive Materials in strategic growth push

FINLAND – UPM Raflatac has announced a bold rebranding initiative, changing its name to UPM Adhesive Materials, effective from the publication of its Q2 2025 Interim Report.

The new name marks a strategic shift reflecting the company’s ambition to grow beyond traditional label materials and deepen its presence in adjacent markets such as graphics and specialty tapes.

While the business area adopts a broader identity, UPM Raflatac will continue as a strong global product brand within the label materials segment, ensuring continuity for customers and partners.

The rebrand underscores UPM’s commitment to expanding its adhesive technologies and offering enhanced value through material performance and services.

According to Tim Kirchen, Executive Vice President of UPM Adhesive Materials, the new identity “reflects our expanded portfolio and growth aspirations, and highlights the value we deliver to our customers through adhesive material performance.”

This evolution is supported by recent strategic acquisitions—AMC, Grafityp, and Metamark—which have significantly strengthened the company’s foothold in the graphics industry.

Pioneering sustainability with product footprint data

In tandem with its rebranding, UPM Adhesive Materials continues to lead on sustainability. The company has recently introduced a feature that integrates product footprint data directly into customer quotations.

This includes Product Passport Prototypes (PPPs) that provide detailed environmental impact assessments at the quotation stage.

By embedding PPPs into quote documentation, UPM enables label converters to evaluate the environmental performance of materials before making purchasing decisions—critical in an industry where raw materials account for 70–90% of a label’s total carbon footprint.

This empowers customers to address Scope 3 emissions—indirect emissions from the broader value chain—more effectively.

This development is a natural extension of UPM’s well-established Label Life service, an independently verified life cycle assessment tool.

The new PPPs, also independently verified by the certification body DEKRA, bring this commitment to transparency and accountability into everyday business transactions.

Flora D’Souza, Label Life Manager at UPM Raflatac, highlighted the scale of the rollout, “We are proud to offer this exclusive service in our customer quotes as the first player in the labelling industry. The PPPs already cover over 90% of our label products by global sales volume.”

The integration of detailed environmental data also positions UPM and its clients ahead of tightening EU regulations.

Specifically, it aligns with the Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation (ESPR) and the anticipated rollout of Digital Product Passports (DPPs)—initiatives aimed at improving product sustainability and supply chain transparency across Europe.

By embedding sustainability into both its strategy and operations, UPM Adhesive Materials not only reinforces its leadership in environmental responsibility but also equips its customers to thrive in a more regulated, eco-conscious marketplace.

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