One company, one platform: how Oleon transformed its digital core

Oct 23, 2026

operations
chemicals
SAP

In the oleochemical industry, operating as a truly global business means more than being present in multiple geographies. It means running the same processes, using the same data, and making decisions at the same speed everywhere. Oleon, a leading producer of oleochemicals and part of the Avril Group, partnered with delaware on UniT: an SAP S/4HANA transformation program that harmonized and modernized operational processes across the entire business. Today, UniT now serves as the digital backbone for Oleon’s next chapter of growth.

Challenge

Oleon’s legacy SAP ECC environment was heavily customized and approaching end of support. Fragmented processes across entities slowed decision-making and blocked the company’s growth ambitions.

Solution

delaware and Oleon designed and delivered UniT, an SAP S/4HANA transformation using a bluefield approach. 20 workstreams, governed by the Power of 3 model, harmonized and modernized all operational processes.

Results

Oleon now operates on a single, harmonized SAP S/4HANA platform, creating a common foundation for global rollouts, real-time reporting and more data-driven decision-making.

Challenge

Oleon had been running on a heavily customized SAP ECC environment for years. While the system supported daily operations, it had become increasingly difficult to maintain, upgrade and adapt to new business needs.

Processes also varied across entities, making it harder to get a consolidated view of performance and scale best practices across the organization. With SAP ECC approaching end of support, Oleon saw the move to SAP S/4HANA as an opportunity to do more than replace its ERP system: it wanted to create a harmonized digital core capable of supporting faster decision-making and international growth.

The complexity increased further when Oleon launched a strategic review in late 2024, reorganizing the business from two commercial entities into one, with seven activity segments. Nearly every member of the executive committee changed functions.The challenge was therefore twofold: transform the ERP landscape while the organization itself was transforming.

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UniT was much more than an IT project. It’s a way of operating, managing the interfaces and highlighting all the interdependencies between different entities and functions.

Claire Duhamel, Chief Transformation Officer at Oleon

Solution

Oleon and delaware designed UniT as a phased transformation covering the company’s operational processes, including sales, production, quality, planning, purchasing, finance and planned maintenance.

Rather than treating UniT as a technology migration alone, the teams combined technical modernization with process harmonization, governance and change management.

It was never ‘this is the responsibility of Oleon’ or ‘this is delaware’s responsibility’. We were always determined to reach this goal as one team.

Catherina Wellens, Program Manager at delaware

1. A bluefield approach balancing innovation and continuity

Rather than opting for a greenfield implementation or pure system conversion, Oleon chose a bluefield strategy. This enabled the organization to selectively adopt SAP S/4HANA innovations and migrate data while retaining valuable custom solutions where the business required them.

The approach allowed Oleon to modernize its ERP environment without discarding functionality that continued to deliver business value.

2. Harmonization with the BRIK model

Every process was reviewed across Oleon’s entities using the BRIK framework:

B: Best practice maintained
R: Redesign to best practice
I: Implement best practice
K: Keep different, with validation

This provided a structured way to challenge existing processes, reduce unnecessary variation and establish a more standardized core for future upgrades and rollouts.

3. The Power of 3 for joint ownership

Each of the 20 workstreams was governed by a trio: a delaware lead, an Oleon Business Process Owner and an IT lead.

This “Power of 3” model brought business requirements, technical feasibility and implementation expertise together throughout the program, creating joint ownership of decisions rather than separating responsibilities between customer and implementation partner.

4. Scope discipline

To keep the transformation focused, delaware and Oleon agreed on contractual clauses limiting the number of change requests. This created additional discipline around scope and helped the teams challenge deviations rather than automatically incorporating them into the program.

5. Change management built into the transformation

UniT included a dedicated change management workstream, with stakeholder analysis, pulse surveys, a change agent network and two-way communication channels.

The aim was not simply to prepare users for a new system, but to help them understand their role in the new, integrated end-to-end processes.

What did
we do?

End-to-end process transformation

delaware implemented SAP S/4HANA across Oleon’s core processes, from sales and purchasing to production, quality, finance, and planned maintenance. The scope also included SAP C4C, OpenText xECM, SAP Fiori, modernized integrations, SAP Enable Now, and data migration using SNP’s software solutions.

A solid blueprint for harmonized processes

delaware and Oleon mapped existing processes and designed the future state together, defining requirements, custom developments, and business scenarios upfront. This created a clear foundation for more standardized ways of working across the organization.

Hands-on support through testing and go-live

When resource constraints put pressure on testing, delaware stepped in to support Oleon’s teams and manage the cutover. At go-live, key users and Business Process Owners provided on-the-floor support, helping orders, deliveries, and invoicing continue without disruption.

Harnessing the chemistry of digital transformation

Chemical businesses face highly specific challenges on an increasingly global scale: complex production processes, packaging and transport requirements, and constantly changing regulations. Delaying the integration of new technologies could mean the loss of your competitive edge.

delaware is a long-term digitization partner fluent in your industry. We help chemical companies take advantage of automation to boost efficiency, drive operational excellence, and support innovation, from ERP modernization and process harmonization to structured change management that makes new ways of working stick.

learn more

Results

UniT went live in June 2025, giving Oleon a harmonized digital foundation for operating as one global business.

Standardized operations: Oleon now runs on a single SAP S/4HANA platform, with processes across entities aligned to best practices to reduce complexity.

A foundation for global rollouts: UniT created a reusable blueprint for acquired businesses and additional entities, supporting Oleon’s ambition to operate consistently across geographies.

Faster, data-driven decisions: Embedded analytics and real-time reporting provide greater visibility into areas such as stock levels, supply chain costs, and delivery lead times.

Greater agility: A simplified, unified system helps Oleon respond faster to market changes and manage costs more effectively.

Oleon & delaware

delaware has been a trusted partner to Oleon for over a decade. That long-standing relationship meant the team understood not just Oleon’s processes, but also its culture. For Claire, this is essential for transformation work.

The collaboration was characterized by a constructive dynamic. Claire highlights this as one of the key success factors: “There was never any finger pointing or people complaining. It was a collective discussion on what could be improved.”

When things got difficult, e.g. when there were resource gaps during testing or the pressure of an approaching go-live increased, delaware did not retreat behind contractual boundaries. The team filled gaps, took on extra responsibilities, and worked alongside Oleon’s people to get the job done.

Looking ahead, Claire sees the partnership evolving: “I expect delaware to challenge us. To have the guts to pull us back and keep us close to the original scope. Because every deviation we make today is a cost we need to undo in the next upgrade.”

Planning a large-scale ERP transformation? Let's make it work.

Catherina Wellens
Program Manager
Connect with Catherina on LinkedIn

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