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Letter to the Editor
Wednesday April 2
BASF Will Not Participate in NACE2003
BASF’s Automotive Refinish business will forego participation in the 2003 NACE show, according to a press release that states the company will instead focus on initiatives that deliver value more directly to customers. PPG, DuPont, Akzo Nobel, and Sherwin-Williams have made similar statements, as well.“The introduction of eBusiness initiatives and an increasing focus on value-added offerings from suppliers, including the paint companies, has prompted many jobbers and shops to reassess their activities and priorities,” explained Guy Bargnes, Director of Marketing, BASF Automotive Refinish. “Exhibiting at NACE is a significant investment that must be weighed against other priorities that more directly and immediately deliver customer value. For example, we have made large investments in programs like VisionPLUS University as well as in technical training and innovative Web-enabled business analysis programs like VisionPLUS® OnLine.”
“BASF strongly supports the Automotive Service Association. We share the association’s commitment to the industry and its future. But we feel that, under the current and foreseeable circumstances, there are more effective ways for us to reach our existing and prospective customers and to add value to the industry,” Bargnes explained.
He noted that BASF has contributed heavily to industry programs like the Automotive Youth Educational Systems and to ASA’s Automotive Management Institute, to which BASF recently fulfilled a 10-year commitment seven years early because of the company’s desire to support the institute’s work.
Bargnes said the company’s decision not to exhibit at NACE in 2003 was carefully considered, and took into account a wide range of factors, including the difficult economy, changes in the collision repair marketplace and a decline in NACE attendance by jobbers and body shops, as well as the need to invest resources in ways that provide the most direct benefits to customers. Future participation will be considered on a year-by-year basis, he said.
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