Successful start to the new millennium: BASF bright with another record year in coatings
Münster. "For the third time in succession, we will post record results: the year 2000 will be another peak year for us," Klaus Peter Löbbe, head of the BASF Group's coatings Division and chairman of the board of executive directors of BASF Coatings AG, said at the division's annual press conference in Münster on Wednesday, November 29, 2000. The division will increase its worldwide sales by 10 percent over the previous year, to 2.2 billion euros, Löbbe continued: "Our return on sales performance has now positioned us among the class leaders in the global coatings industry. Sales and operating result have been improved in North America and Europe, allowing us to more than compensate for the difficult economic situation in South America and the associated decline in results there."
According to Löbbe, this continuing success is founded on the company's strategy of concentrating on its core global ranges of automotive OEM coatings, automotive refinishes, and forward looking industrial coatings; focusing on customers and markets with high innovation potential; and achieving growth by building on its own strengths and through selected acquisitions and cooperative ventures.
60 percent of BASF's coatings sales are achieved outside Europe, with North America alone reaching 35 and South America 20 percent. Looking at the business by divisions, Automotive OEM Coatings are maintaining a dominant position with approximately 40 percent, followed by Automotive Refinish with 25 percent, and Industrial Coatings at 20 percent. Decorative Paints in South America account for 15 percent of net sales. With a rigorous investment program of just under 400 million euros BASF will forcefully continue its growth strategy in coatings. This figure does not include acquisitions.
"In all sectors we are optimizing structures and processes for continuous improvement," Löbbe emphasized. A key component of the measures are projects in Europe, which have already enabled BASF to achieve considerable productivity increases in the years gone by. Löbbe: "We have now realized improvements amounting to 50 million euros." In NAFTA as well the division is systematically pursuing its programs for increased efficiency and process optimization. "Strict cost management and process streamlining are keeping us fit for profitable growth," Löbbe commented.
Highlights in Japan ...
In Asia, the focal point of its regional growth efforts, the division has taken a strategically important step forward by setting up the BASF NOF Coatings joint venture in Japan. It makes BASF the first western coatings manufacturer with production and marketing on the ground in Japan, and thus the first global player, in the classic sense, in the coatings sector. Löbbe: "The joint venture strengthens our market position in automotive OEM and industrial coatings. Supplementing our product portfolio, the powder coatings, coil coatings, plastic coatings and UV coatings of NOF are a perfect fit. We can now concentrate more strongly on the large Japanese auto makers and act more selectively to introduce new technologies to the market, for example waterborne coatings."
... and USA
The second highlight Löbbe mentioned for the year 2000 was the new BASF powder coatings plant at the Morganton site in North Carolina. The company is creating 50 new jobs in this plant started up at the end of October, with an initial annual capacity of 10,000 metric tons. Powder coatings are used for domestic appliances, radiators and the pipeline industry, and for other indu
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