BASF Quality Expert Offers Insights into Responsible Care 14001

Conference Attendees Hear How BASF Helps Make Environmental Standards Better

DALLAS, March 10 -- Companies that firmly commit to improving their environmental, health, and safety standards will have distinct competitive advantages in coming years, a quality expert from BASF said today.

"Leadership and competitive advantage will not come from conducting 'business as usual.' Leadership and competitive advantage require going above and beyond," said Wendy Finnerty, Director, Corporate Quality, BASF Corporation.

In a presentation to attendees of the American Society for Quality's Tenth Annual ISO 9000 and ISO 14000 Conference here, Finnerty described the pilot program that led to the Elastocell unit of BASF's polyurethanes business being the first to achieve RC 14001, a groundbreaking environmental, health, and safety standard that combines the environmental management system established by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) with the rigorous environmental, safety, health, and community directives of the American Chemistry Council's (ACC) Responsible Care(R) initiative. The Elastocell unit, based at BASF's Wyandotte, Mich., site, produces microcellular polyurethane parts used in automotive suspension components.

"A key strategy for BASF in North America is to always improve our customer focus and to provide value-added solutions to meet specific needs," Finnerty explained. "The Elastocell business initiated efforts to achieve ISO 14001 certification in response to the automotive manufacturers' call for their entire supplier base to be ISO 14001 certified. The automotive industry represents a very important customer base to us, so it was imperative for us to proactively meet this requirement."

However, as Elastocell's efforts to achieve ISO 14001 certification progressed, Finnerty said the company uncovered a great opportunity to verify its commitment to environmental protection, health, and safety even further.

"Responsible Care is considered by many to be more far reaching in these principles, and we decided that our implementation of the ACC guidelines should receive the same verification as an ISO certification awarded through an independent audit," Finnerty said.

"We were willing to step up and to develop this pilot program so that we could help make Responsible Care better. In the process, Elastocell created a competitive advantage by providing the automotive manufacturers with a value-added element that far exceeded their requirements. RC 14001 will have this type of defining impact for those who commit to it in the future," she said.

Finnerty cited thorough preparation, strong internal and external communications, and management support as the keys to success during the 17-month process that concluded with RC 14001 certification in August 2002.

"When you set out to accomplish something like this, it's important that you do it for the right reasons. You cannot just go through the motions. You have to really see it as a tool for business improvement," Finnerty said.

"We had complete management backing and the support of many process owners and team members throughout our organization as well as the ACC and ISO registrar community. Responsible Care had already been a major part of BASF's vision and values. We were committed to taking it to another level through the certification program," she said.

BASF: Helping Make Products Better(TM)

BASF is the world's leading chemical company, offering its customers a range of high-performance products, including chemicals, plastics, coatings systems, dispersions, agricultural products and fine chemicals as well as crude oil and natural gas. BASF is an industry leader in sustainable development, including environmental protection, safety and health, and social responsibility. BASF had 2001 sales of $29 billion and employs more than 90,000 people worldwide. BASF shares are traded on the stock exchanges in New York (BF), Frankfurt (BAS), London (BFA), Paris (BA) and Zurich (BAS). BASF Corporation is the North American affiliate of BASF AG, Ludwigshafen, Germany. In North America, 2001 sales were $6.9 billion and the company employs approximately 14,000 people. For more information or to subscribe to receive news releases by e-mail, visit www.basf.com/usa.