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10:02 a.m., Oct. 23, 2002--During the 21st century, “better living” will be accomplished through science and technology, not just chemistry, Chad Holliday, chairman and CEO of DuPont, told a standing room only audience Oct. 18 in MBNA America Hall. Holliday’s talk, “Sustainable Growth in Our Third Century--Transforming the Corporation,” kicked off the College of Business and Economics' fall 2002 Chaplin Tyler Executive Leadership Lectures.
During his 32-year career at DuPont, Holliday, an engineer, has worked in virtually every company business venture. He headed DuPont’s Asia Pacific operations for seven years and is known for his global perspective and willingness to embrace change. He became the company’s chief executive in 1998. He served as chairman of the World Business Council for Sustainable Development.
Holliday began by emphasizing how different his company is from Enron. He said he is proud of the company he has been with since 1970.
“DuPont has respect for people and ethical business practices,” Holliday said. “One company doing what Enron did is one too many.”
The decision to restructure DuPont was based on a year and a half assessment of “what we’re good at and the needs of the world,” Holliday said. The company’s ongoing transformation will create five “sustainable growth platforms”: electronics and communications technologies; agriculture and nutrition; safety and protection products; performance materials; and coatings and color technologies. He said the cost of overhauling the company would come close to $50 billion in divestitures and acquisitions.
“We’ve turned loose of the past,” Holliday said, explaining that DuPont plans to make its textiles and interiors business a subsidiary and then sell it. Gone will be the units that were the hallmark of the company—apparel, textiles, nylon and polyester.
In the future, he said, the company will be more like 3M than Dow Chemical.
“What’s really critical to our success over time is that our products have relevance, uniqueness and be commercially viable,” Holliday said.
He gave as an example fiber made from a composite material called Kevlar that is 5 times stronger than steel but very lightweight. DuPont uses it to produce protective apparel and sports equipment, automotive parts and the ropes used on the Mars Pathfinder. Holliday said 83 U.S. embassies around the world are in the process of being reinforced with Kevlar and the windows of government office buildings are being reinforced with DuPont films.
Holliday talked about the research DuPont is doing with fuel cell technology for cell phones and someday automobiles—still 10 years off. The company also is working on a fuel cell that will provide energy-efficient, low-cost, high-contrast displays for electronic equipment.
In agriculture and nutrition, DuPont will focus on products with a soybean base. “The health effects of soy are very strong,” Holliday said. One new product will compete with Silk, a soy-based milk substitute.
“We want to focus on the real problems of the world, the ones no one has been able to solve,” Holliday said.
Article by Barbara Garrison
Photos by Duane Perry
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