Profile BASF

BASF have been in India since 1943 and BASF India were created in 1961, the only BASF company to be independently listed (on the Bombay and National Stock Exchanges). BASF have six segments with 13 operating units and BASF India cover all but one of them (oil & gas), employing 1,300 people in India ranging across the head office in Mumbai and six manufacturing locations. For leather the production sites at Thane, north of Mumbai, and Mangalore are relevant and December 2007 was an eventful month for BASF India and their leather division. On December 4, they opened the first phase of their new technical centre for the leather industry at the Thane site, the South Asia Technical Centre - Leather (SATC-L). It was billed as the ‘complete solution provider to our customers'. The new four-storey building includes a fully equipped pilot tannery. In addition to this there is a conference/meeting room, design studio and offices.  The following day saw the opening of a new plant at their site in Mangalore, southern India, for the manufacture of Eukesolar dyes for the leather industry. The plant will take full advantage of the synergy provided by the leather powder dyes production which has been carried out in Mangalore for many years. BASF India are operating one of the most modern plants for syntans and were the first to go into syntan manufacturing in India in 1966. The Basyntan auxiliaries plant was accredited with ISO 9001: 2004 and ISO 14001: 2004. Prior to 1966 products were imported. The local market evolved because of the huge import duties that were levied on foreign-made products by the Indian Government. Now BASF make the products in India and sell them through a network of independent distributors who, for the most part, have been working with BASF for many years. According to one of their distributors, BASF have built a high level of trust with their customers. Because of this they are always willing to try out new BASF products. In fact, 1,300 tanneries can be listed as customers who choose from a complete range of products from beamhouse to finish. The company are strengthened by having access to all BASF developments and technical know-how. All products must conform to global BASF standards. In fact, there is a full time person in charge of product screening to monitor the quality of all raw materials input to ensure that only those of the correct standard go into the manufacturing process. During Leather International's visit to the Thane site, a benchmarking team from Germany were on site to assess safety standards. The plant has a very good safety record and the  last accident was in July 2000. The research wing of the leather division is involved in developing products specifically for the local market. To make life easier for Indian tanneries, BASF India have devised a fashion system called Fashionova - Crafting Leather with Chemistry which is based on 25 products that will cover all the tanner's needs and provide all required effects. The key innovation is that with fewer chemicals tanners are offered a broader scope but with less inventory. All the products will meet legislated restrictions. In conjunction with CLRI (Modeurop) and National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT) members of the design studio are currently developing the technology to enable computerised forecasting with leather parameters built in. The design studio aims to predict forthcoming fashion by the time tanners need to put their seasonal articles into production. They propose cutting lead times for their customers by monitoring leather trends and replicating them with local raw materials. They have also come up with a ‘Waste to Wealth' concept which takes discarded fishskins and converts them to exotic leather. This has the potential to add up to 4% to currently available raw materials. The fish in the project are Vetki from the Kolkata area. They are traditionally cooked after the skin has been removed and so are ideal for the purpose. A number of bags and shoes have been made up in the exotic looking fishskin. Since India has banned the killing of snakes and crocodiles for the manufacture of leather, there is a real opportunity for an alternative. Another project ‘Lugafab' has been to take virtually worthless low grade leathers and make them washable. They are then combined with textiles to provide a usable material. It is possible to make leather trimmed polo shirts, for instance, which can be washed in a washing machine and ironed in the usual way. The leather is very thin and makes an attractive addition in the form of collar and other trims. Even brown leather on white textile can still look good after 20 wash cycles and use of a hot iron. BASF India are pioneers in attracting innovation and talent. They recently held a competition for employees which they called the Innovations Bazaar and which was open to all. Entries were required to meet world standards of best practice. Out of 22 entries, three prize winners were selected. First and third place went to finalists in the leather sector. The judging criteria were novelty factor; business impact for BASF; whether the process was adopted; and sustainability. First prize went to the Wealth from Waste project and the development of a fishskin tanning process. The third prize was awarded for a new product concept in retanning as a result of which the leather department have filed for their first patent. Sadbhavana Sadbhavana literally means ‘empathy' and it is the concept which underpins corporate policy. BASF India are firmly based on sustainable development initiatives. According to Prasad Chandran, chairman of the BASF group in India and head, South Asia, the three pillars of sustainable development are Economy, Ecology and Society. Under his care, BASF have quadrupled their business since he joined them in 1999. Although he has presided over many socially responsible schemes, he is quick to point out that this is only done within strict economic guidelines. Only a positive growth and economic stability can allow an organisation to pursue a healthy socio-ecological policy. BASF work together with a number of other organisations to make India a better place, for example, taking a firm stand against corruption in public life. Intellectual property rights is another area where they lend a hand, saying that due to weak patent laws and lack of proper information, India has often been denied the benefits from the ideas provided by the country's scientific manpower. Following the principle of ‘catch them young' BASF have conducted essay competitions on IPR in more than 75 educational institutions. They also work closely with schools and colleges and regularly take the best graduates from CLRI and the Kolkata Leather Institute (they currently employ five gold medallists). In this way the students not only get jobs but they also receive further training. Freshers joining BASF will get a full year of further training, often in subjects which they have not covered before. In order to fulfil their social responsibilities BASF India believe they have to cease being a mere spectator and become an active participant. Under the aegis of sadbhavana they are striving for community development with an emphasis on education and empowerment of women as well as relief and rehabilitation initiatives. Organising the Kids Lab on the Science Express is just one of many such initiatives the company have been involved in. When they heard that the German Government and the Max Planck Society in cooperation with the Indian Government were proposing to take the famed Science Tunnel Exhibition to India for the first time and to place it on a train, they asked if they could participate. The result was an interactive Kids Lab. The train made the seven-month, 15,000km journey across India, stopping for three days at each of the 57 cities on the route. By mid April 1.5 million children and adults had already boarded the train and in June 2008, the Science Express returned to its original destination, Safdarjung Station, New Delhi. Improving their footprint The BASF India contribution does not just consist of educating where they can but many other aspects of life are carefully conserved. From 2008 they will be recycling water for gardening purposes and claim to be the only chemical company in India to be recycling in this manner. They are also engaged in energy conservation and in 2007 they reduced electricity consumption by 7%, steam by 7%, water by 4% and increased solar power by 9%. For World Environment Day they donated 550 saplings to local schools, and the list goes on...