Alumni Portrait - Haryono Lim: From Clausthal to the Helm of BASF Greater China - How a TU Clausthal graduate became a leader in the global chemical industry

For the Indonesian-born engineer, the appointment marks the closing of a remarkable circle. More than three decades ago, he came to Germany as a young student to study Chemical Engineering in Clausthal. Today, he is one of BASF’s most internationally experienced executives and has played a significant role in shaping the company’s development in Asia.

From an Indonesian-Chinese young man to an engineer trained in Germany, from a Chemical Engineering student in Clausthal to the leadership of BASF Greater China, from Ludwigshafen to Singapore, Osaka, Nanjing, Zhanjiang and Shanghai: over nearly three decades, Haryono Lim’s career has impressively shown how an internationally educated engineer can grow into a leader in the global chemical industry.

His career path stands not only for personal commitment and international openness, but also reflects TU Clausthal’s mission to provide education that is practice-oriented, internationally minded and forward-looking.

On an important stage of the global chemical industry

With his appointment as Chairman and President of BASF Greater China, Haryono Lim reaches another major milestone in his professional career. At the same time, the decision underscores the long-term strategic importance of the Chinese market for BASF.

China is now the world’s largest chemical market, and Greater China plays a key role in BASF’s global strategy. As one of the company’s future key leaders in China, Haryono Lim will drive BASF’s strategic development in the Chinese market, foster innovation partnerships and advance the company’s sustainable transformation.

For an engineer whose academic path was shaped in Clausthal, this responsibility is not only an honour, but also a significant mission.

Studying in Clausthal: Engineering education as a foundation

Haryono Lim was born in Indonesia in October 1972; his family roots are in Guangdong Province, China. At the age of 18, he came to Germany to pursue his studies. After learning German, he enrolled in Chemical Engineering at Clausthal University of Technology in 1993 and graduated in 1998 with outstanding results as a Diplom-Ingenieur.

His years in Clausthal laid an important foundation for his later career. The university provided him not only with a solid engineering education, but also with an international environment in which he was able to further develop independent thinking, analytical methods and the ability to solve complex problems.

During his studies, Haryono Lim received an award from the German Academic Exchange Service, DAAD, in recognition of his outstanding academic achievements. He also served as chairman of the Indonesian Students’ Association. In Clausthal in the 1990s, students from many countries lived and studied together. In this role, Lim organised international student activities and developed his skills in intercultural communication and teamwork at an early stage.

Working in an international environment sharpened his understanding of different cultural perspectives — abilities that would later become essential for leading international teams.

Speaking about his alma mater, Haryono Lim once said: “TU Clausthal is not a large university, but it offers students many practical opportunities and room for independent thinking.”

The path to BASF: From engineer to international executive

The connection between Haryono Lim and BASF began during his studies. From December 1997 to June 1998, he wrote his diploma thesis at BASF’s headquarters in Ludwigshafen on a company-related topic. After graduating from TU Clausthal, he officially joined BASF in 1998 and began his career in Technical Service.

In the early years, Lim focused mainly on technical applications of raw materials for adhesives, particularly in labels, adhesive tapes and high-speed coating. For a graduate in Chemical Engineering, this was a formative phase: he gained first-hand knowledge of production processes, product applications and customer requirements. This technical understanding later became an important basis for his grasp of markets and business.

As his career progressed, he increasingly moved from technical functions into regional management roles in Asia-Pacific. He held positions in Singapore and Japan and worked in areas including Technical Service, Product Management, Strategic Communications, Sales and Marketing, and Petrochemicals.

His experience in different countries, functions and business areas enabled him, step by step, to make the transition from engineer to international executive. This was not merely a conventional career progression, but a continuous expansion of perspective: from understanding products and technologies to understanding customers and markets; from taking responsibility for individual business areas to coordinating regional teams; from solving technical questions to helping shape corporate strategy and organisation.

Rooted in China: A key role in shaping BASF’s Zhanjiang Verbund site

If Germany and Southeast Asia provided Haryono Lim with a solid technical foundation and regional management experience, China became a particularly important stage in his professional practice.

From 2015 to 2017, Lim served as General Manager of BASF-YPC Company Limited in Nanjing, a major joint venture between BASF and Sinopec. He then moved to Shanghai, where he contributed to the early planning of a new integrated BASF production site in China.

Since 2018, Haryono Lim has been based in Zhanjiang, Guangdong Province, where he has been closely involved in the planning, construction and preparation for the operation of the BASF Zhanjiang Verbund site. From the outset, he assumed responsibility for the project as project leader. The BASF Verbund site in Zhanjiang has become one of the largest industrial projects in recent Chinese economic history. At peak times, around 35,000 people were working on the construction site simultaneously. Coordinating a project of this scale placed the highest demands on engineering, project management, logistics, safety and international collaboration.

For Haryono Lim, this meant far more than the technical implementation of a large-scale industrial facility. It required strategic thinking, intercultural leadership and the ability to bring together a wide range of interests and specialist disciplines behind a common goal.

Alongside Ludwigshafen in Germany and Antwerp in Belgium, the Zhanjiang site is one of BASF’s major Verbund sites. BASF has invested almost ten billion euros in the project, making it the largest single investment in the company’s history. At the same time, the project is regarded as one of the most significant wholly foreign-owned petrochemical projects since the beginning of China’s reform and opening-up.

Against the backdrop of changing global supply chains and an accelerating green transformation, the Zhanjiang site is not only designed to serve the Chinese market. It is also considered an important strategic pillar for BASF’s future development in the Asia-Pacific region.

A central element of the new Verbund site is, as in Ludwigshafen, a steam cracker — a large-scale facility for producing basic chemicals that are subsequently processed within a widely interconnected production network. Aligning the individual plants, processes and interfaces of such a site was a mammoth task.

For Haryono Lim, the Zhanjiang project was much more than a major engineering and construction undertaking. It was also a comprehensive management practice. Building a large integrated chemical Verbund site requires the coordination of engineering, project management, supply chains, safety, environmental management and intercultural teamwork. Teams from different disciplines, countries and regions must work together towards a shared objective.

Speaking about his role in building this new large-scale site, Lim said modestly: “It was an honour.” As one of the project leaders, he was involved for many years in coordinating resources, building teams and managing the project. He accompanied the project from planning and design through construction and into the preparation for operations.

Even in the final phase of the project, Lim remained cautious and realistic. Referring to the final steps, he once compared the situation to a football match: “You should never celebrate victory before the final whistle.” The sentence symbolises an attitude that is essential in large-scale industrial projects: plan carefully, remain attentive and take responsibility until the very last step.

The abilities demonstrated in engineering management, intercultural collaboration and systems thinking also show the importance of a solid engineering education for major industrial projects. This experience became an important basis for Lim to deepen his understanding of the Chinese market, industrial cooperation and BASF’s Asia-Pacific strategy.

Recognition as one of the “Clausthaler Köpfe”

In 2025, Haryono Lim was included among the “Clausthaler Köpfe”. Reflecting on his alma mater, he emphasised that TU Clausthal had provided him with much more than a solid specialist education. Equally important, he said, was the mindset of analysing problems precisely and solving them systematically. Even many years later, the skills he acquired in Clausthal continued to shape his professional development and management practice.

Since January 2024, Haryono Lim has been contributing to strengthening industrial ties between Germany and Asia in his role as President Mega Projects Asia at BASF. As he himself has put it, he was “educated in Germany and rooted in Asia”. This dual perspective is not only a personal advantage for him, but also a responsibility: to connect markets, talents and ideas, and to promote understanding and cooperation between different cultures.

Looking at Haryono Lim’s career of almost three decades, several guiding themes become visible: internationality, engineering thinking, intercultural communication and long-term orientation. Whether at BASF’s headquarters in Germany, in Asian markets or on the construction site of a major industrial project in China, he has consistently combined the analytical precision of an engineer with the open perspective of an international top executive.

His professional path is an example of the opportunities that a solid engineering education at TU Clausthal can open up in an increasingly globalised industry. Technical excellence, international experience and the willingness to take responsibility run like a thread through his career.

From Clausthal to the global industrial stage

From the lecture halls of Clausthal to the leadership of a global chemical company in Greater China: Haryono Lim’s career path powerfully demonstrates the strength of engineering education, long-term commitment and an international perspective.

Today, more and more TU Clausthal alumni are active around the world in industry, technology, energy and business. With their professional expertise, they connect countries and cultures; with their innovative spirit, they help shape industrial development; and through their achievements, they continue to strengthen the international visibility of their alma mater.

Haryono Lim’s path leads from the lecture halls of TU Clausthal to one of the most important stages of the international chemical industry. His professional success stands as an example of the university’s international orientation and the excellence of its graduates.

With his appointment as Chairman and President of BASF Greater China, Haryono Lim will take on a key role at the interface between German industrial expertise and Asian growth markets. TU Clausthal and its worldwide alumni community warmly congratulate him on this significant career milestone and wish him every success and continued impact in his new role.

Haryono Lim at a glance

• Born: October 1972 in Indonesia, with family roots in Guangdong Province, China
• Studies: Chemical Engineering, TU Clausthal, 1993–1998
• Degree: Dipl.-Ing.
• Joined BASF in 1998
• Career stations: Ludwigshafen, Singapore, Osaka, Nanjing, Shanghai, Zhanjiang
• Since January 2024: President Mega Projects Asia
• Included among the “Clausthaler Köpfe”: 2025
• From 1 July 2026: Chairman and President of BASF Greater China

Contact

Clausthal University of Technology
China Representative of the Presidential Board
Chairman of the Association of Chinese Alumni of TU Clausthal, VCAC
Prof. Dr.-Ing. habil. Michael Z. Hou
Tel.: +49-5323 722347
Email: hou@tu-clausthal.de