Rohm GmbH & Co. KG and BASF Coatings AG have formed an innovative business relationship. Successful companies are now customer-oriented rather than product-oriented. They help resolve customer problems and support all the activities that their customers' processes entail. The close connection formed between the supplier's services and the customer's activities as part of the shared collaborative processes goes far beyond a conventional customer-supplier relationship. Tailored, electronic collaboration enables companies to reduce process costs and process runtimes and deliver extra benefits to customers.