Development Partnerships – Collaboration with Customers and Partners

BASF develops solutions together with customers and partners. Initially, the focus is on finding solutions to problems that occur when using BASF products. Today, cooperation with customers and partners starts in the development phase of new products in many cases.

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From Problem Solver to System Developer

While customer consulting is initially limited to selecting the most suitable product from the range, it increasingly focuses on customer-specific requirements for which solutions need to be found. Over time, this results in BASF’s increasing involvement in the development of new customer projects. An early example is the joint development of the first plastic fuel tanks which BASF creates together with Porsche in 1967. In this way, development partnerships evolve from customer-supplier relationships.

Materials for Runners

BASF and the sporting goods manufacturer adidas have collaborated for more than 30 years. The most recent example in a number of joint, successful sports shoe developments is presented in 2013 and has a mid-sole made of Infinergy, the world’s first expanded thermoplastic polyurethane. The plastic from BASF ensures the outstanding running features of the sports shoe.

Pirate or Princess?

It is no longer possible to imagine a child’s room without the multifaceted play world of Playmobil. Before the first Playmobil figure is sold over the counter in 1974, BASF already offers its plastic expertise during the planning and design of the new toy. Ultraform, polyoxymethylene (POM) from BASF, is the plastic Playmobil uses from day one and is found mainly in the moving parts of the toy figures until today, making them literally mobile.

Parrot and Beetle

Since 1965, the parrot has expanded BASF’s product portfolio as a trade mark for quality coatings. They adorn the Volkswagen Beetle since 1934: The coating of its first prototype is Glasurit black. From 1978 until 2003, the Beetle is only manufactured in Puebla, Mexico – and BASF is the coatings supplier. In 1998, VW also begins manufacturing the successor to the Beetle, the New Beetle, in Puebla – again, with BASF Coatings. In 2004, BASF becomes responsible for the coating process in Puebla, too, together with VW on the basis of a system partnership.

At the latest with the establishment of the precursor to the future technical applications department (1891), customer orientation at BASF means more than just the spatial aspect and direct contact. This is because consulting on technical applications not only creates an indispensable interface between the market and the company. Rather, it is the seedbed for what is becoming increasingly important, namely the willingness to recognize customers’ problems and the ability to offer solutions.

In the course of this development, collaboration with customers to resolve problems already begins during the development phase of a project in many cases. Manufacturers of toys and sporting goods, for example, choose to develop products together with BASF.

A trend of so-called system solutions can also be observed, which has increasingly characterized BASF’s relationships with the automotive industry, in particular, since the 1960s at the latest. Customized, customer-specific solutions that are usually developed jointly are sought more and more. This leads to a change in customer relationships, and BASF is no longer just a material supplier, but also supports the entire process at the customer’s premises and together with the customer on-site, such in the case of automotive paints, for instance.