The company says that 80% of customer needs can be met with just 10 products

The company says that 80% of customer needs can be met with just 10 products

BASF is reducing its portfolio of ABS products from 1,500 to fewer than 10. Fred Baumgartner, president of BASF’s styrenics division, told a pre-K press conference that BASF had already cut the number of ABS products to around 100 and would reach its target by the middle of 2005.

The company claimed that ABS has developed from a speciality into a standard grade, so a wide product offering is no longer necessary. Baumgartner said that 80% of customer needs would be covered by the reduced number of products. However, he admitted that customers – especially smaller ones – would leave BASF.

He claimed that large customers were happy with the move, as it would lead to lower costs for them.