Founded in 1906, Cemex is one of Mexico’s few truly multinational companies, with market-leading operations in Mexico, Spain, Venezuela, Costa Rica, Philippines, Panama, Dominican Republic, Egypt, Colombia, and a significant presence in the Caribbean, Indonesia, and the southwest United States. It is the largest cement company in America and one of the three largest cement companies in the world, with revenues of $4.8 billion and close to 65 million metric tons of production. Cemex and its subsidiaries engage in the production, distribution, marketing, and sale of cement, ready-mix concrete, and related materials. Its strategy includes focusing on cement and concrete products, diversifying globally to cushion against volatility in local markets, developing efficient production and distribution processes, using IT to help increase flexibility, improve customer satisfaction, and reduce bureaucracy and excess staffing, and providing training and education for employees. Its state-of-the-art Tepeaca facility supplies one fifth of the Mexican market and may be the lowest cost cement producer in the world, with operating costs of $25 per ton, roughly $10 lower than the industry average, and emissions far lower than legal requirements. In 1992 Cemex purchased Spain’s two largest cement companies, reviewed, their operations thoroughly, invested in facilities, and reduced the workforce dramatically, such as by consolidating 19 offices into one.
Although it was a laggard IT user through the 1980s, Cemex is now widely recognised as a company that uses IT extensively and views IT as an integral part of its long-term strategy. Lorenzo Zambrano, a Stanford MBA whose family owned a third of the stock, became its CEO at age 41 in 1985. In 1987, he hired an information system director and gave him the mandate of developing Cemex’s then primitive IT capabilities. Within a year, dispersed operations were being linked via satellite. In one case, a cement plant in a town with only 20 telephones used a satellite dish to transmit voice and data, thus bypassing Mexico’s chaotic phone system. By 1998, managers could use the satellite-based communications network to monitor operations and market conditions all over the world and to communicate using voice, video, Lotus Notes, and other technologies.
Application areas that demonstrate the importance of IT include management information and control of operations. Cemex managers can immediately link to any of the 18 plants in Mexico and immediately access the status of each cement kiln, recent production data, and even the deployment of trucks dispatched by different cement and concrete distribution centers. Financial statements are available two days after the end of the fiscal month, an endeavor that used to take a whole month. Eliminating these lengthy delays in evaluating production, costs, and sales volume helps in running a lean, low-cost operation by making it possible for management to take action quickly instead of waiting almost two months to just receive the data in some cases.
Use of IT in controlling operations occurs at many points. Cemex’s ready-mix delivery trucks are equipped with dashboard computers that allow tracking using global positioning satellite technology. A central dispatcher in a region constantly reroutes the trucks as customers cancel, delay, or speed up orders. In 1995, because of traffic gridlock, capricious weather, and labor disruptions at the construction site, Cemex could promise delivery no more precisely than within three hours of the scheduled delivery time. Such conditions often forced customers to cancel, reschedule, or change half of their orders. Today, at its largest operations in Mexico and Venezuela, Cemex is committed to delivering ready-mix shipments within 20 minutes of the scheduled time. The reason for this dramatic improvement in customer service is its dynamic synchronization of operations, which has increased the productivity of the company’s trucks by 35%. The result is significant savings in fuel, maintenance, and payroll costs, and a considerable increase in customer goodwill.
A Cemex news release in September 2000 announced the launch of CxNetworks, a new subsidiary that will build a network of e-businesses, as an integral element of its overall e-enabling strategy. CxNetworks will leverage Cemex’s assets onto the Internet and extend the reach of the company into marketplaces that complement its core business. CxNetworks will initially focus on three business areas: the development of online construction marketplaces, the creation of an Internet-based marketplace for the purchase of indirect goods and services, and the expansion of Cemtec- Cemex’s information technology and Internet consulting services company into new markets. CxNetworks is in the process of developing and will soon launch a series of online construction market places with a variety of local partners in South America, Europe, the United States, and Mexico. These businesses will offer an array of construction products, including cement, as well as online services and information to small and large contractors, builders, and other construction industry participants.
Questions For Discussion: * How did Cemex fundamentally change the way it conducted its business? * What role do information systems play in Cemex’s strategy and business model? * How much do information systems help Cemex deal with its problems and compete in the industry?
成立於1906年，Cemex公司是墨西哥的幾個真正的跨國公司的企業之一，市場領先的業務在墨西哥，西班牙，委內瑞拉，哥斯達黎加，菲律賓，巴拿馬，多明尼加共和國，埃及，哥倫比亞，和一個顯著存在的加勒比海，印度尼西亞，和美國西南部。這是在美國最大的水泥生產商和世界上三個最大的水泥企業之一，$ 4.8億美元的收入，並接近65萬噸生產。 Cemex公司及其附屬公司從事的生產，分銷，市場推廣及銷售水泥，預拌混凝土及相關材料。其戰略包括專注於水泥和混凝土產品，全球多元化，以減輕對當地市場的波動，開發高效的生產和銷售過程中，用它 有助於提高靈活性，提高客戶滿意度，並減少官僚主義和多餘的人手，並提供培訓和教育為員工。其狀態 - 的 - 的 - 藝術Tepeaca設施提供五分之一的墨西哥市場，並可能在世界上成本最低的水泥生產商，$ 25每噸，比行業平均水平低大約10美元的經營成本，並排放量遠低於法律規定。 Cemex公司在1992年購買了西班牙的兩個最大的水泥企業，審閱，他們的行動徹底，設施投資，並顯著地降低了勞動力，如19個辦事處合併成一個。

雖然這是一個落後的IT用戶，通過20世紀80年代，CEMEX是現在廣泛認可為一家公司，使用廣泛，並把IT視為其長期戰略的一個組成部分。洛倫佐拉諾，斯坦福大學MBA，其家族擁有三分之一的股票，成為其在1985年41歲的CEO。 1987年，他聘請了一個信息系統總監，並給他的任務發展CEMEX的那麼原始的IT能力。一年之內，分散的業務被通過衛星連接。在一個案例中，一家水泥廠在一個小鎮只有20電話使用一個碟形衛星天線來傳輸語音和數據，從而繞過墨西哥混亂電話系統。到1998年，管理人員可以使用基於衛星通信網絡監察在世界各地的經營狀況和市場條件，並使用語音，視頻，Lotus Notes中，和其他技術進行通信。

證明IT的重要性的應用領域，包括經營管理信息和控制。 Cemex公司管理人員可以立即鏈接到任何的18個植物在墨西哥，立即訪問每個水泥窯的狀態，最近的生產數據，即使由不同的水泥和混凝土中的配送中心調度部署的卡車。財務報表所提供的財政一個月，用了整整一個月的努力，兩天後結束。消除這些冗長的延誤在評估生產，成本和銷量，有助於在運行一個精幹，運行費用低，從而使管理人員迅速採取行動，而不是等待近兩個月，只是在某些情況下，接收到的數據。

資訊科技的使用控制操作發生在許多點。 Cemex公司的預拌混凝土運輸卡車都配備了儀表板的電腦，允許利用全球衛星定位技術跟踪。在一個地區一個中心調度員不斷地重新路由卡車為客戶取消，延誤，或加快訂單。在1995年，因為交通癱瘓，反复無常的天氣和勞資糾紛，在施工現場，Cemex公司可以承諾發貨不超過三小時內的預定的交貨時間更精確。在這種情況下往往被迫客戶取消，重新安排，或者改變他們的訂單的一半。今天，在其最大的業務在墨西哥和委內瑞拉，CEMEX公司是致力於提供預拌混凝土的出貨量在預定 時間20分鐘內。這顯著改善客戶服務的原因是它的動態同步操作，這增加了該公司的卡車的生產力35％。其結果是顯著節省燃料，維修費及工資成本，並大幅增加客戶商譽。

ÂCemex公司的新聞發布會於2000年9月宣布推出的網絡電子商務企業，將建立一個新的子公司，CxNetworks其整體電子化戰略的一個組成部分。 CxNetworks將利用Cemex公司的資產在互聯網上，該公司進入交易市場，補充了其核心業務範圍擴展。 CxNetworks將最初集中在3業務領域：網上交易市場建設，建立一個基於互聯網的市場上購買商品和服務的間接擴大CEMTEC-Cemex公司的信息技術和互聯網諮詢服務公司的發展進入新的市場。 CxNetworks是在開發的過程中，並將於近期推出了一系列的在線建築市場的地方在南美，歐洲，美國和墨西哥的各種當地的合作夥伴。這些企業將提供一系列建築產品，包括水泥，以及小型和大型承包商，建築商和其他建築行業參與者線上服務及資訊。

討論的問題：

怎麼從根本上改變了Cemex公司進行業務？ 什麼樣的作用發揮信息系統在Cemex公司的戰略和商業模式？ 信息系統多少幫助Cemex公司處理其問題並且在同行業中的競爭？