MOSCOW (MRC) -- BASF’s Global Business Services unit is being further developed. The division was established as of January 1, 2020, as part of the implementation of BASF’s corporate strategy, said the company.
As of that date, around 8,400 employees worldwide transferred to Global Business Services and since then have been providing services for BASF’s business units, ranging from financial and logistical processes to services in the areas of communication, human resources, environment, health and safety.
Following the bundling of services and resources and the implementation of a wide-ranging digitalization strategy, the number of employees in Global Business Services worldwide will decline by up to 2,000 by the end of 2022. From 2023 onward, the unit expects to achieve annual cost savings of over EUR200 million. “Overall, with these planned measures, we will make a considerable contribution to BASF Group’s efficiency,” said Marc Ehrhardt, head of the Global Business Services division.
"By fundamentally simplifying processes and utilizing digital solutions, we want to meet the needs of the BASF business units flexibly and competitively,” said Ehrhardt, describing the objective. As part of this, more services than before will be bundled in hubs, which will offer as many services as possible for the units in the BASF Group. Details of the planned realignment will be worked out in the coming months. Employee representatives will be involved according to local rules and regulations.
As MRC reported earlier, BASF-YPC undertook a planned shutdown at its polystyrene (PS) unit in China on May 5, 2020. The unit restarted on June 20, 2020. Located in Jiangsu, China, the PS unit a production capacity of 200,000 mt/year.
According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated consumption of PS and styrene plastics was 225,870 tonnes in the first half of 2020, down by 8% year on year. PS consumption increased by 2% year on year in June 2020, totalling 39,590 tonnes.
BASF-YPC Company Limited (BASF-YPC) is a 50-50 joint venture between BASF and Sinopec, founded in 2000, with a total investment of approximately USD5.5 billion. The integrated petrochemical site produces about three million tons of high-quality chemicals and polymers for the Chinese market annually. The products serve the rapid-growing demand in multiple industries, including agriculture, construction, electronics, pharmaceutical, hygiene, automotive and chemical manufacturing. All BASF-YPC plants are interconnected in order to use products, by-products and energy in the most efficient way, to save cost and to minimize the environmental impact. BASF-YPC posted sales of approximately CNY 19.6 billion in 2019 and employed 1,942 people as of the end of the year.
MRC