On May 30, BASF kicked off the piling work of the first plants of its smart Verbund project in Zhanjiang, Guangdong, China.

This came as another important milestone in the development of the company’s $10 billion investment project since its official commencement in November 2019. The first plants will produce engineering plastics and thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU) to serve the increasing needs of various growth industries in the southern China market and throughout Asia.

“It only took less than two years since the signing of the first Memorandum of Understanding to the official piling of our first plants. Thanks to the great support from government authorities and local communities, as well as to the continuous efforts of our employees and partners worldwide, the project has been progressing steadily,” said Haryono Lim, senior VP, Senior Project New Verbund Site China, BASF. “We are confident to bring the first batch of ‘Made in Zhanjiang’ products to the market by the end of 2022 as planned.” BASF applies the highest safety standards and will implement a comprehensive smart manufacturing concept at the Verbund site based on cutting-edge technologies. As of today, the project has reached a record of 50,000 safe work hours without a lost time injury since commencement.”