BASF Expands Facility At Its Whitehouse, OH, site; New Operations Will House Customer Support Industrial Coatings Business; Automotive Refinish eCommerce sites.

Business Editors

WHITEHOUSE, Ohio--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sept. 25, 2001

BASF Corporation today dedicated an expanded facility at its Whitehouse, Ohio, site that will house customer support services for the company's Industrial Coatings Regional Business Unit (RBU), as well as customer support for the Automotive Refinish RBU's eCommerce systems, including bodyshopmall.com.

The primary focus of BASF's Whitehouse site, also known as the Automotive Refinish Application and Training Center, is customer support. The new Industrial Coatings RBU customer support function will adopt the systems and practices of the Whitehouse site's "Call Center," which provides one-stop shopping for BASF customers and sales representatives for order placement and management, technical assistance and other service related matters.

BASF Industrial Coatings will also incorporate its color matching function, a key aspect in supplying coatings to customers, with the Automotive Refinish RBU's laboratories at the Whitehouse site that serve the same purpose. Other noteworthy activities at the Automotive Refinish Application and Training Center include a full spectrum of technical courses and hands-on training for BASF's Automotive Refinish customers, and business and marketing classes geared specifically to the interests and operations of key customers. Approximately 125 BASF employees now work at the Whitehouse site.

"Centralizing all customer support activities into one location will improve the convenience and effectiveness BASF offers the marketplace," said Jim Kendall, Vice President of BASF's Industrial Coatings RBU. "All of our support people will have the same instant access to the vital information, material and services our customers require, especially through the convenience of `one-stop shopping.' We will also improve our effectiveness by collaborating with and learning from our Automotive Refinish RBU colleagues, who have made the `Call Center' system a model for superior customer service."

Another component of the Whitehouse expansion is the transfer of customer support for the Automotive Refinish RBU's eCommerce systems, such as www.bodyshopmall.com, to the site. Those involved with the overall management and development of this RBU's eCommerce efforts will remain at the BASF Automotive Campus in Southfield, Mich.

"We are always looking for ways to streamline and improve our support network and overall operations," said Frank McKulka, President, NAFTA II Regional Division, to which the Automotive Refinish and Industrial Coatings RBUs belong. "Our customers stand to greatly benefit from this expansion at our Whitehouse site, which houses many of the value-added innovations BASF brings to the marketplace."

"We welcome our Industrial Coatings colleagues to Whitehouse and are delighted the success we've achieved here has merited the investment to expand our operations and extend what we have accomplished to other BASF businesses," said Ken Perry, Technical Director and Whitehouse Site Manager, BASF Automotive Refinish RBU.

BASF is the world's largest producer of chemicals and related products. Based in Mount Olive, N.J., BASF Corporation is the North American affiliate of BASF AG (Ludwigshafen, Germany), which is listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the trading symbol "BF." BASF Corporation had sales of $7.9 billion in 2000. BASF in North America employs more than 15,000 people at more than 50 locations, and can be found on the Internet at www.basf.com/usa.