TCS to help Italy's Ducati manage business better

Mumbai, Jan 20 (PTI) India's largest software exporter
Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) Tuesday signed a multi-million
dollar contract to assist Italy's Ducati Motor Holding in
better asset management and vastly improve business
efficiency.

"We have entered into a strategic partnership with
Ducati to offer our technology services to the bike maker,"
TCS CEO and MD S Ramadorai told reporters here.

As a first step of the strategic partnership, TCS would
implement Enterprise Resource Planning for Ducati and its
subsidiaries in Europe, he said.

The objective of this project is to drive quantum
improvements in Supply Chain management, especially in the
areas of forecasts, inventory levels and optimised production
plans and overall reduced logistics costs, he said.

The execution of the multi-million dollar contract is
spread over many years, but the company did not assign any
size to the deal or the number of years.

This partnership would help Ducati in improving the
customer responsiveness and business efficiency, Ducati CEO
and president Gabriele Del Torchio said.

This partnership is not only about cutting cost, but
better asset utilisation, he said.

"With TCS as its tech partner, Ducati's ability to
respond to customers and react to the evolving business
environment will increase and help them to effectively use
TCS' talent and expertise to boost their presence globally,"
Ramadorai said.

Before TCS, Ducati had American companies as its IT
partner.

"We believe that TCS is the right partner to help us
set up a strong company platform that will help us reach the
next level in terms of company competitiveness and results in
today's global market," Torchio said.

TCS also serves other Italian auto major Ferrari.
Seeing TCS' work with Ferrari, Ducati decided to go ahead with
this partnership, Torchio said.

Late last year, Ferrari announced that it would carry
the Tata logo on its F1 cars in 2009 season.

As of now, both the TCS and Ducati are concentrating
on the ERP implementation. "We have to demonstrate our
capability. Associating with a global player enhances the
reputation of TCS," Ramadorai said.

Besides Ferrari and Ducati, TCS is working Big Three
automakers in the US. They are General Motors, Ford and
Chrysler. Automakers in the US have asked the government for a
USD 25 billion bailout package for the ailing auto industry.
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