Lafarge is the largest producer of cement in the country, with production units in Volos, Chalkida and Milaki Evoias, 6 distribution centers in Thessaloniki, Rio, Drapetsona, Kavala, Herakleion, Igoumenitsa, and commercial presence all over mainland and island Greece.  With a goal of long-term business success and leadership in its market, Lafarge’s strategic priorities are the Health and Safety of its employees, excellence in its market, development of its employees and their technical knowledge, practical commitment to viable growth, and innovation and viable solutions of added value for their customers.

Within this framework, the company has began a cooperation with Emphasis Telematics to cover demands in the administration of transported goods, with solutions which can secure safety, reducing the environmental footprint of its transports, and provide effectiveness to customer service.

Emphasis Telematics is a pioneer in the development of telematic solutions.  With implementations in over 450 companies in Greece and abroad, it develops and provides modern proposals for fleet management, telemetry and automated control.

Needs  Analysis

•           Safety. The safety of Lafarge’s personnel and partners is an absolute priority for the company.  Especially in anything that deals with the delivery of products to customers and the safe driving behavior of its drivers, it is necessary to nullify practical behaviors which lead to the creation of dangerous situations.  To achieve this, the ability of notifications and specialized reports is crucial.

•           Green transports. Lafarge has consistently shown its interest in the environment and systematically advances actions which lead to positive results for the environment. To achieve this it is necessary to have a precise picture of the fleet’s movement and to interface the company’s order processing system to the fleet’s movement so as to restrict unnecessary traffic which burdens the driver and the environment.

•           Consistency. One of the basic growth axes of the company is the consistency of product delivery to the customers and their timely notification for possible problems or delays.. The accomplishment of this goal necessitates the ability to collect reliable data related to the position of the vehicles combined with custom notifications and smart algorithms which detect delays in itineraries.

•           Reliability. Reliability is extremely important and it is attached to various phases of the order life cycle. The involvement of various departments of the company is necessary through continuous delivery of data related to the order status.  Furthermore, specialized reports are necessary for the evaluation and improvement of the effectiveness of performed actions.

Solution description 

Generally speaking the implementation of a unified and operational solution, one which can cooperate with existing systems and complement their operations, requires the development and implementation of a rather complicated model. On the other hand, the number and complexity of the users as well as the importance of a smooth system operation, require simplicity of use and a steady and constant operation.

The base of the system was the fleet management solution, e-TRACK. e-TRACK combines electronic recording devices, which are placed on the vehicles, with the base station which operates as the administration center for all information passed through the system. With the help of the GPRS network, communication between the base station and the devices is achieved. For the needs of the specific project, an interface was developed, customized to the demands of the departments involved in the order life cycle. Also, specialized reports were developed aiming to provide immediate and operational information to the end user.

In essence, the solution in based on the following:

•           Gathering and transmission of data by the e-TRACK system

•           Interface of e-TRACK with Lafarge’s database (Oracle)

•           Interface with Lafarge’s order processing system (SAP)

•           Development of a module which connects the orders with live data

•           Adaptation of reports and notifications based on qualitative criteria which interest Lafarge.

Solution Implementation 

Within a rather simplified environment the user has access to various folders/tabs through which he/she is informed on the status of orders in a clear manner. These folders/tabs, which were used to offer relevant information to user of various levels, are

•           Today’s scheduling

•           Next days’ scheduling

•           Order status

•           Non-available vehicles

•           Reports

This way, and with the help of dynamic grids, the user has the ability not only to observe the progress of the itineraries, but also to intervene where necessary, changing the automated suggestions of the system. A basic characteristic of the application is the combination of live data with the order processing system of Lafarge, as well as the creation of combined analytical reports. This way the user can track the progress of the orders and be able to make decisions so as to improve the scheduling and the servicing of the orders.

Lafarge has at its disposal a live system through which the user can make timely decisions which will affect the progress of the orders, can apply various filters in order to mold the flow of information to his/her needs, and can print information grids for third party viewing.

The interface with e-TRACK offers the ability to transfer filtered information, such as vehicle visits to specific points of interest (customers, distribution centers), and also to detailed historical itinerary data (stops, speed, route etc.)  

Benefits to Lafarge 

•   Decrease of unnecessary vehicle traffic

•   Decrease in errors (eg. delivery to wrong customer)

•  Analysis of driving behaviour (eg. aggressive driving) with the help of reports

•  Drastic reduction of speed limit violations

•  Confirmation of safe driving criteria (eg. seat belt)

•  Ability to use the panic button in emergencies

•  Timely detection of delays and instant notification of the appropriate employee

•  Easy tracking of vehicles and timely notification of the customer on the status of the order

•  Automatic proposals by the system for assignment of vehicles to orders based on evaluation criteria set by Lafarge

•  Better programming in order servicing

•  Precise vehicle movement data, real time notification of vehicle status, estimation of arrival at next stop

•  Detailed reports for the evaluation of the total effectiveness of the order servicing system

•  Fast printouts of the system status targeted at informing third parties (partners, drivers, colleagues)

•  Unhindered connection to Lafarge’s order processing system targeted at automating many procedures, facilitating the users, and accelerating of the overall operation of the system.

•  Implementation of adapted algorithms on criteria set by Lafarge, for the regulation of internal procedures (vehicle assignment to order, loading sequence, exceptions in assignments, etc.)