Dupont SAP systems crucial to £3.7bn Danisco acquisition

Dupont has said technology systems are a crucial part of targeted cost savings under its $5.8 billion (£3.7 billion) acquisition of food ingredient and farming chemicals firm Danisco, announced on Sunday.

Ellen Kullman, chief executive at Dupont, the American chemicals giant that makes products ranging from Kevlar and Teflon to fertiliser, today told investors that the acquisition offered “substantial” savings.

The key areas to improve efficiency were “technology, operations and market access”, she said. Alongside business management, around $130 million would be slashed from costs, she said. Through the acquisition, Dupont is attempting to dramatically expand its large biotechnology business.

Both Dupont and Danisco centre their IT on an SAP enterprise resource planning system. With technology savings high up the agenda, slimming to single SAP systems could be a key part of the integration. Dupont has not yet commented on exact plans.

Apart from ERP, Dupont and Danisco both use SAP Advanced Planner and Optimiser supply chain management.

Other systems in use include SAP Netweaver business intelligence, Salesforce.com customer relationship management, cloud systems based on Microsoft Business Productivity Online, and IBM Tivoli system management, used by Dupont. Danisco will bring with it IBM Websphere middleware.

The acquisition was a “financially attractive transaction” given the cost savings on offer, Kullman said.

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