BASF SmartFax offers information
at the touch of a finger

SOUTHFIELD, MI, January 3, 1998 -- The Automotive Refinish Group of BASF offers a "demand publishing" information service called BASF SmartFax. The fully automated system, based at the company's North American Customer Service Center in Whitehouse, Ohio, operates 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and allows customers to obtain technical information almost instantaneously via fax.

The BASF SmartFax database contains hundreds of documents--such as technical data sheets, product information flyers, and Material Safety Data Sheets (MSDSs)--that describe Glasurit and R-M refinish products and prescribe their proper use. In keeping with BASF's North American focus, the database includes a selection of documents in Spanish and French as well as English. BASF SmartFax can be accessed with a touch-tone telephone from anywhere in Canada, the United States, Mexico and the Caribbean through the Customer Service Center toll-free number. A recorded menu guides callers through several options, including BASF SmartFax. Callers can request a faxed index of available documents. Once they have the index, they can call and request specific documents simply by entering the appropriate code. In most cases, the documents they choose will be faxed to them within minutes.

According to Ali Azhar, Manager, Logistics and Call Center, BASF SmartFax is a logical extension of the services offered by the Customer Service Center. "Our goal, of course, is to make it as easy as possible for customers to obtain product, technical and color information," says Azhar. "The Customer Service Center is a one-stop source for that information. You might say that BASF SmartFax adds another dimension to our service in that customers can receive hard copies of the information they need without having to go through a customer service representative first."

So-called "demand publishing" relies on an electronic database of documents which can be accessed and "published" for dissemination by hard copy, e-mail, or (as with BASF SmartFax) by fax. While fax technology itself is not new, automated fax-based delivery of information is an important step in the direction of a fully interactive system involving BASF and its customers. "At this point," says Guy Bargnes, the BASF Automotive Refinish marketing manager for business development, "all of our customers--and most end users of our products--have fax capability, so this (BASF SmartFax) is a very practical and rapid means of giving them the information they need. As interactive communication capability expands, and as more customers and collision repair facilities come on-line with the internet, for example, we'll be able to make the flow of information even more efficient."

BASF SmartFax can be accessed by dialing 1-800-825-3000 and choosing option five. The same toll-free Customer Service Center number can also be used to obtain color and technical information or to place product orders.