From South America to Asia, Europe, and North America: 2023 launches BAER360, a platform that brings together all Baerlocher locations and employees and replaces the old intranet. It is easily accessible and can be used on mobile or desktop devices. Baerlocher to go.

A look back to the 1960s shows how drastically internationalization and digitalization have changed communication in recent decades. In Dr. Christian Rosenthal's day, there were no mobile phones let alone video conferences. Landlines were only used in selected rooms. Even fax machines were unthinkable until the 1970s. If one wants to send something off quickly, one had to call the courier. When Rosenthal was in Italy for a extended period, he produced tapes every day, which were transported back and forth between him and the Munich headquarters, because everything at Baerlocher was still concentrated locally in Munich. At the management level, people exchange information weekly in the "laboratory meeting", with colleagues in Europe or South America via correspondence, telephone calls, local notices and in-house messages. It works. But with increasing internationalization, new solutions are needed.

A question of "Baerspective
Customers, partners and employees have been kept up to date since 1976 via the magazine "Bärlocher Report", among other things. The magazine is also published in English and individual issues in other languages. For the employees in Munich and Lingen, the magazine "Bärlocher Profil", designed like a newspaper, appears for a short time in 1990. To enable employees worldwide to participate in the topics and events at Baerlocher, a new, now German-English magazine follows in 1995. Initially without a name. Readers are asked to find one in a competition. “Bärspective" is the winner among the entries from all over the world. The topics of this internal magazine are also international, with reports from other markets and about problems solved for clients. Different departments, cultures, working and everyday worlds are presented.

At the same time, Datex and computers bring Baerlocher closer together in the 1990s. With "Bärlinet", all local networks are integrated into the "Bärlocher International Network". A first intranet is also created. It is the spiritual predecessor of BAER360. In 1997 Baerlocher.com is launched, and digitalization does not stop at "Baerspective", as it has been called since 1999. When the Y2K bug makes experts nervous, Baerlocher clears things up and gives practical tips on how to write emails. These increasingly dominate everyday life, but at the time they are a completely new experience for many employees. Thanks to cooperation with SAP, the entire internal communication infrastructure is digital by 2010.

The "Baerspective" is already replaced in 2004 by the newsletter "Baeren-Info", which reaches employees worldwide in different languages. Also analogue, because those who do not have a PC at their workplace in production, for example, read on the noticeboard. The era of Baerlocher magazines is not quite over yet. In India, for example, the magazine "Baerlocher News Spectrum" is published between 2003 and 2007 for employees and representatives of the plastics industry. But “new” now means often more “digital”. In China, for example, a dedicated WeChat news platform is set up in 2016.

After several years of service, it is time to rethink the intranet as well. 2023 sees the launch of BAER360, a new platform that gives all locations a voice and integrates all important functions in a clearly structured overall solution. In addition to the group language English, BAER360 offers a multilingual service. The ying and yang emblem is no coincidence.

BAER360 is both the common bracket and a space that gives Baerlocher's variety and diversity room to breathe. Local and digital in presence and thought, so to speak. By the way: The communication around the 200th anniversary also has an analogue side in the best sense - for the anniversary Baerlocher publishes a very special magazine that is available digitally and in paper form.