Andrea Sordi, SVP Global Procurement for Indirect, Packaging & Energy at dsm-firmenich, shares his insights on the most vital elements for procurement transformation and success
Sordi has been a key player in helping integrate and combine the procurement departments during the merger of dsm-firmenich. Given its unique role within an organisation, procurement can be a particularly challenging function to align in a merger. Especially at scale and under time pressure.
For Sordi, the merger is still a daily reminder that procurement is not a back-office support function. It is one of the hidden engines powering transformations across the enterprise.
“Procurement is where visibility, trust and agility come together,” he tells us from his Geneva office. “Our job isn’t simply to cut costs. It’s to give the business confidence, to anticipate disruption, and to create value for the future.”
Leading procurement through a merger of equals
When DSM and Firmenich announced their merger, it captured the industry’s attention. This wasn’t a typical acquisition with one side imposing its culture, processes and systems on the other. Instead, it was arranged as a merger of equals, truly leveraging the best of both sides.
Two global leaders in science and innovation, each with a world-class portfolio, came together to create dsm-firmenich in May 2023. While both had roots going back well over a century, the new company was built to be forward-looking, focused on its role in nutrition, health, and beauty and touching the lives of billions of people each day.
For procurement, the challenge was critical: how do you merge two global networks of suppliers, two cultures and two sets of priorities, processes and tools – without allowing either to dominate? “The intention was never about one company prevailing over the other,” Sordi explains. “It was about thoughtfully blending the best of both, with the promise of synergising value towards top-line opportunities.”
The procurement transformation moved at top speed. Leadership structures needed to be ready and deliver as of day one. Significant time was quickly invested in third-party spend transparency and pipeline management, which helped create a sense of trust across the organisation. A structured governance framework was established with each business partner, featuring shared targets and agendas.
This approach transformed procurement into a bridge-builder across the organisation. dsm-firmenich quickly moved to merge available technologies by leveraging consolidated and established solutions and extending them across the entire organisation. Two and half years down the road, the company has one single buying tool and spend management application across the entire company. “We did not look for perfection but for speed and pragmatism,” Sordi emphasises.