A few clarifications: BASF is not based in Mannheim, but on the opposite bank of the Rhine in Ludwigshafen. They don't make magnetic storage media anymore, as that part of their business ('BASF Magnetics') was moved into a spinoff company going by the name of Emtec. They kept Magnetics' corporate identity, though.
BASF's central production plant at Ludwigshafen is the largest chemical plant in Germany and the largest employer in all of Rheinland-Pfalz. People from my region commute over distances of more than 150 km to work at BASF. Years ago, a BASF commuters' carpool minibus from Kusel, the town where I went to school, was crushed by a lorry on its way, killing six family fathers on the spot.