BASF is the world’s leading chemical company, providing customers with a wide range of high-performance products, covering chemicals, plastics, performance products, crop protection products and crude oil and natural gas. Its characteristic all-in-one base (“Verbund” in German) is the company’s strength. It enables BASF to achieve a low-cost advantage, thereby ensuring a great competitive advantage.
The relationship between BASF and the Greater China market can be traced back to 1885, and since then BASF has been a loyal partner of China. As the largest foreign-invested enterprise in China’s chemical industry, BASF’s main investment projects are located in Shanghai, Nanjing and Chongqing. Among them, BASF Asia Pacific Innovation Park (Shanghai) is the R&D hub in the Asia-Pacific region. In 2015, BASF’s sales in Greater China exceeded EUR 5.7 billion. Recently, Mr. Zheng Weicheng, Global Vice President of Business Management Greater China, BASF Performance Materials, accepted a reporter from PUdaily/PUdaily mail access.
T: BASF Mr. Zheng Weicheng, Global Vice President of Business Management, Performance Materials Greater China
Could you please briefly introduce BASF’s Performance Materials division, as well as its business scope and business segments?
T:BASF’s Performance Materials division covers BASF’s entire innovative materials as well as customer-specific materials, mainly including engineering plastics (nylon, polybutylene terephthalate, polyoxymethylene and composite materials) and polyurethanes (polyurethane solutions, polyols and thermoplastic polyurethanes), etc. In addition, the company’s innovation center, simulation and testing equipment allow us to help customers develop, optimize and commercialize products faster.
Taking BASF’s patented simulation tool UItrasim as an example, it can not only select the best material for a specific part of the product, but also avoid defects in the design and production process, thereby reducing the need for prototyping, reducing development costs and shortening development time, These are great competitive advantages for our customers; in addition, designfabrik® Design Consulting Center is another big advantage for us, which can bring new business growth points for customers.
On a global scale, the Performance Materials division serves four major areas: transportation, construction, industrial applications, and daily consumer goods. The division has a strong product and service portfolio and has in-depth research on application-oriented system solutions .
As a partner of customers in these four fields, we have:
– Strong technical and engineering competitiveness, able to provide customers with high-performance and reliable products
– Deep understanding of their industry
– Provide Customized solutions
– Help customers to be more competitive through excellent innovation
In summary, we will help customers make full use of industrial development and achieve greater business success.
2. In the first half of this year, how is the operating performance of the performance materials department? How is the performance of the segmented business? What does BASF Performance Materials expect for its overall business this year? Which region does BASF think will be a new bright spot for industry development in the future? Can you introduce the business strategy of BASF’s Performance Materials business unit in the Asia Pacific region, especially in Southeast Asia, South Asia and Greater China?
T:In terms of performance, Asia accounts for 25% of our total global sales, and it remains a growth region for the Performance Materials segment, so Asia has a significant impact on the Performance Materials segment as well as development strategy is of great significance.
Polyurethane materials are used in a wide range of fields, and there are development opportunities in all industrial chains, and they are also playing an increasingly important role in each industrial chain. Compared with traditional materials, today’s polyurethane materials are favored by designers because of their excellent performance, not only beautiful in appearance and good in hand, but also comparable to other materials in terms of quality and value.
We hope that market demand can grow steadily, from a macro perspective, especially in the following areas:&nbThe sole strategic partner of the flooring series products in Greater China, the two parties will work together to promote the overall solution for sports floors in the Chinese market, making sports venues safer, more environmentally friendly and durable.
4. This year, relevant departments released a pilot list of 16 “sponge city” projects, which were implemented to make full use of rainwater. As far as we know, BASF Performance Materials has joined this project, can you provide some details?
T: We learned that in order to welcome the G20 summit to be held in September, the Moganshan Road in the West Lake Scenic Area has been paved with BASF’s Elastopave® polyurethane adhesive system. This model project reflects Hangzhou’s support for the successful implementation of the G20 and the implementation of the “2030 Sustainable Development Goals”. As a key municipal project in Hangzhou in 2016, this move aims to promote the city’s “sponge city” construction. Hangzhou plans to install modern infrastructure in at least 20% of its urban area by 2020 to prevent urban waterlogging caused by heavy rain.
New pavement paved with Elastopave® will help Hangzhou implement sustainable solutions in preparation for the G20 summit and the Asian Games in 2022. Like other cities in China, Hangzhou also faces the problem of heavy rain and waterlogging, leading to urban waterlogging and erosion of infrastructure.
Elastopave® is a polyurethane adhesive that can be mixed with gravel. Compared with concrete or asphalt pavement, large and small stones form numerous interconnected cavities, which effectively improves the water permeability of roads and public spaces, with an average water absorption of 4,000 liters per square hour per square pavement. Not only that, Elastopave® can also reduce the temperature of road surfaces in summer by about 10 degrees Celsius, thereby reducing the urban heat island effect. Currently, Elastopave® has been used in the construction of roads and public places in provinces and cities such as Fujian, Henan, Yunnan, Chongqing and Guizhou. BASF will continue to promote the “sponge city” project in the future.
5. On a global scale, what are the competitive advantages of BASF Performance Materials’ polyurethane solutions compared to competitors?
T: In my opinion, in addition to the supply side, our first-class factory and technology also mean the following competitive advantages for customers:
– Strict control and reliable product quality
– Minimize downtime due to recipe variations
– Greater operational efficiency
With the help of BASF’s professional capabilities in innovative design, technology and engineering, we can also help customers stand out from the competition in the industry and enable them to achieve greater success and benefits; these advantages and professional technologies are not only beneficial to new products and new applications development, and while creating value for customers, it also brings new impetus to the growth of customers’ industries.
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