About the site

Since Friedrich Engelhorn founded BASF in 1865, the Ludwigshafen site has developed into the largest integrated chemical complex in the world. A good third of BASF’s global workforce works here. Ludwigshafen is also home to most of BASF’s operating divisions and numerous corporate units.

The BASF headquarters are also the origin of the Verbund principle, which has been developed and continuously improved here. Ludwigshafen was therefore the model for BASF’s five other Verbund sites in Europe, the US and Asia.

Many innovations started life in Ludwigshafen, from the pioneering work in dye production in the nineteenth century to the Haber-Bosch process for the manufacture of ammonia and the high-pressure syntheses in the first half of the twentieth century, to today’s extremely versatile high-performance plastics.

Around a third of BASF’s global workforce work in Ludwigshafen.

Around a third of BASF’s global workforce work in Ludwigshafen

At around 39,000 employees, a good third of BASF’s employees around the world work in Ludwigshafen. Many thousands of products for customers from almost all industries are manufactured in the 200 production plants at the site.

Seven of BASF’s thirteen company divisions have their headquarters at the Ludwigshafen site. The site is also home to numerous units that provide services to the entire BASF Group; for example in personnel, finance, law, technical engineering, site management, investor relations, communications, as well as environment, health and safety.