Good Stuff From BASF

Happy Monday boys and girls!

First let me say that I’m sorry for the lack of posting goodness last week. I realized on Tuesday that my paper was not due for another week but I had test on Friday. Opps. I’ve also been in tons of meetings last week, ranging from team meetings, to company wide IT meetings, to meetings with BASF. As a matter of fact, I’ve got a two hour meeting with BASF reps on site this afternoon and an hour or so one this morning.

The whole integration thing is a little weird. From a company point of view, it’s happening rather quickly. They made the announcement two weeks ago that BASF was going to buy us and we have their reps here today. Soon they’ll announce a whole new BASF branding scheme for us to use on all electronic communications (and that means I have to redesign our intranet…joy).

From an IT perspective, its a little different. Apparently BASF acquired two small companies around the same time they bought us out and neither one of them had an IT department. Based on what I’ve been told, that’s a good thing since they are hurting for IT people. But since they’re trying to get those sites up and running, it’s going to be at least two years before we get to integrate our networks together.

The good news is that everything I’ve heard so far indicates that, aside from your typical upper management cuts, there won’t be any layoffs. And that’s a good thing. BASF also offers tuition reimbursement which makes me a happy camper. Honestly, the whole thing just seems surreal. After working here for nine years and practically being Engelhard branded…its all about to change and I’m still going to work in the same office. Even my Engelhard mug that I drink Hennessey tea out of every morning is about to become obsolete.

Ebay?

Bottom line is that there’s going to be lots of changes, especially within IT, but I feel good about the merger.

Well, that’s about it for me today. Have a great day and take it easy.

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Banana Barrage.

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Crazy ballons.

Neo-Geo-Bowling

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