Senior Vice President of BASF Freeport, Texas, Chris Witte is what you call an “optimist by nature.” He is passionate about growth in industry, adding jobs and strengthening communities through plants that are profitable, safe and compliant.
Witte has been senior vice president of the BASF Freeport site since September 2010. BASF Freeport consists of 500 acres, which include 24 plants that produce 23 different products. Founded in 1958 as BASF’s first manufacturing site outside Europe, the Freeport site is one of the corporation’s largest North American manufacturing locations and Witte oversees the daily operations of the site.
“BASF Freeport is a relatively large site with more than 700 employees and approximately 780 contractors,” he said. “In this position, I want to make sure we have the ability to lead employees to success. We have to be able to listen well and listen to what the concerns and challenges are that people face. Also, I provide leadership to the teams on site to make sure we keep the plants running safely, in compliance and profitably. But one of the major parts of this role is also making sure we’re a strong advocate for industry, both in the local community and at the state and federal level. It is important people outside of our gates understand the value we bring to society and the value we bring to community. So much of my job is not just focused inward but also focused outward in the community with the local, state and federal governments.”
Witte, a Chicago native, holds a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering and a master’s degree in business administration from Louisiana State University. He began his BASF career in 1987 in the Professional Development Program. In 1988 he took an assignment as a process engineer on the BASF Geismar, La., site and worked on expansion projects in the methylene diphenyl diisocyanate and toluene diisocyanate isocyanate production units. In 1997, he became operation manager of the Geismar site nitrobenzene/aniline production plant. Then in 2001, he became operations manager of an acetylene production unit and oversaw its start-up and commissioning effort. From 2001 to 2002, Witte served as a delegate on the division president’s staff at BASF’s worldwide headquarters in Ludwigshafen, Germany. There he performed worldwide benchmarking analyses. He returned to the Geismar site in 2003 as manufacturing director for 13 chemical intermediates operating units. In 2007, he joined the Port Arthur, Texas, site as general manager and member of the Joint Venture Management Committee where he served until moving to the Freeport site.
Having been with BASF for 26 years, Witte has dealt with quite a bit of change and challenges throughout his career. During the late 1990s until the early 2000s, the chemical industry faced significant pressures.
“I would say this was the most challenging time of my career,” he explained. “We had high raw material feedstocks and many of our downstream customers were moving their operations overseas. This meant we were forced to compete in a global market while at the same time a large part of our variable cost structure made it difficult to compete. But BASF has a very strategic vision and our teams discovered creative ways to keep us competitive. We worked hard to not go the way of some of the other industries that disappeared. We made it through this time without losing sight of safety and compliance.”
But today, Witte said things have changed 180 degrees. It is an exciting time for the industry. “The advent of the new technology hydrofracking has really created some strong opportunities for us. We have seen significant renewed growth and expansion,” he said.
BASF Freeport’s new addition
BASF Freeport recently announced plans to build a new production plant for emulsion polymers. The approximately $90 million plant is an extension of BASF’s existing value chains and will use raw materials already in production at the site to make emulsion polymers. The new plant will create 20-plus permanent jobs and 200 construction jobs, and construction is expected to begin early this year with a start-up in mid-2014.
“This move diversifies our product portfolio and further integrates the value chain,” Witte said. “We appreciate the support of the community and local agencies to give us the tax incentives so we could land this plant at the site.”
BASF’s Freeport site is based on the “verbund” concept, which means the plants are integrated, working together. The new plant strengthens BASF’s position as a leading supplier of emulsions in North America and demonstrates the corporation’s commitment to customers in the coatings, construction, adhesives and paper industries.
BASF has also recently announced plans for a new cathode materials production plant in Elyria, Ohio, and a state-of-the-art production plant for formic acid in Geismar.
A changing work force
According to Witte, growth and expansion is exciting but it also brings challenges. With the “baby boomer” generation aging and retiring, a new generation will enter the work force.
“We’re looking at a work force that will be retiring with a lot of experience,” Witte said. “And on top of that, we want to organically grow capacity out of our existing plants while building new plants. So to grow and expand — at the same time you have a lot of experience leaving — is one of our greatest challenges. We need to make sure we have qualified employees to support this growth. We also need to recognize this new work force has a different background.”
To help this new work force adapt, the BASF Freeport site is developing a mentoring program. There are many employees at the Freeport site who have worked their entire careers without an incident. “We want to use this mentoring program so a veteran, who has never had an incident in his or her career, can teach these new individuals the ‘tricks of the trade’ and necessary skills,” he said. “Then, that safety culture is embedded right away.”
Freeport and safety
BASF Freeport has an industry-leading safety record but Witte said he is never satisfied in regards to safety. “We’re always looking to improve in the area of safety because if one person gets injured that’s too many,” he said. “We have a lot of focus these days based on behavioral-based safety programs.”
BASF Freeport has implemented several internal practices to keep everyone safe and encourage safety on site. For example, BASF Freeport’s “Tell Me” safety program allows employees to wear a sticker or button, which signifies these employees are open for feedback if they are seen doing something unsafe. Another peer-to-peer safety initiative at the Freeport site is $1 gold coins are awarded daily amongst employees to recognize proper and exemplary safety practices.
“Safety is the No. 1 priority for us. We need to make sure the new plants we put in place are well designed and thought out from a safety and compliance standpoint,” Witte stated. “These new plants need to be incident free when they start-up and as a new work force emerges, we need to maintain operational excellence. We can’t rush these plants into the ground and we need to maintain industry best practices. Continuous improvement is a must for everything.”
BASF Freeport and community involvement
No matter where the sites or plants are located, BASF is actively engaged with its local communities. “We know the community gave us the right to operate, and we have an obligation to earn that right and demonstrate every day we are a good corporate citizen and neighbor,” Witte said. “To do that, BASF ensures we are partnering with more than 50 nonprofit organizations along with participating in over 125 community events each year. Our employees volunteer more than 500 hours of their personal time (on top of what they give us as ‘BASF volunteers’) to community causes. I’m proud to say this is one of our greatest achievements because we hear time and time again from our community that BASF is there when they need us.”
When he’s not at the Freeport site, Witte serves on several boards and committees throughout the community, including the board of directors for the Bay Area Boy Scouts of America, the board for the Brazosport College Foundation and the board of regents for Lamar University.
“My personal commitments lean toward helping our youth of today become productive citizens and leaders of tomorrow,” Witte said.
He also serves on the board and executive committee of the Texas Chemical Council (TCC)/Association of Chemical Industry of Texas, and as executive chair on the TCC Air Advisory Board.
“These associations are great ways to network throughout the industry,” Witte said. “They are also excellent ways to advocate what our industry needs in order to make sure we can continue to be a job engine out there in the communities.”
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BASF Corp.
602 Copper Road
Freeport, TX 77541
(979) 415-6100
Employees: More than 700 BASF employees and approximately 780 contractors
Products: 23 products that go into diapers, playing cards, carpet, weed-whacking and fishing lines, glue sticks, wood finishes and much more
