New site agreement at Ludwigshafen

BASF management and representatives of the 34,000 employees at the Ludwigshafen verbund site in Germany have signed a new site agreement. This will run from 1 June to the end of 2025, replacing one that was due to expire at the end of 2020.

Among other things, it has been agreed that there will be no forced redundancies while the agreement is in place and that an average of at least €1.5 billion/year will be spent on investment, modernisation and maintenance until 2025. Further commitments have been made to vocational training and prioritising internal employee development priority over external recruitment and subsidised local transport for employees.

Executive board member Michael Heinz said: “If the Ludwigshafen site is to remain successful in a fast-changing business environment, we need to become more agile and flexible … With the new site agreement, we are supporting the necessary cultural change while also creating reliable framework conditions for our employees.”

BASF said that the site “is to act as a role model and pioneer for the entire group when it comes to tackling key challenges”. Among the key topics defined to this end to date have been:

* Enhancing occupational & plant safety

* Resource-saving & low-emission production

* Expansion of digitalisation in production, administration & business processes

* Future-proof mobility solutions in goods & passenger transport

* Strengthening Ludwigshafen as a hub for the BASF Research verbund

* Continuous optimisation of structures and processes to achieve a more agile organisation