In the years of 1990’s, Cemex faced some complication using the management information.

Under that circumstances, the CEO of the company Zambrano hired Gelacio Iniguez, a
Wharton MBA who today is hailed as a “cyber-visionary,” to serve as Chief Information
Officer (CIO). There was a great partnership developed between Zambrano, the CEO
attuned to the strategic possibilities of information, and Iniquez, the CIO with a genuine
understanding of business.
Zambrano and Iniguez realized that, if they could successfully solve their first and greatest
business challenge – unforecastable demand – solutions to the other key business issues
would begin to fall into place. This issue was one of the main issues of Cemex’s difficulties.
A chase for answers led Cemex to Memphis, Tennessee, and Houston, Texas.Three
organizations – Federal Express, Exxon and Houston 911 – had largely solved the same core
problem. The company sent observers to each organization,

1. They used Memphis as a shipping hub, Federal Express (whose customers never
provide forecasts of demand) had built and international business which achieved a
previously unheard-of degree of speed and reliability for the delivery of packages
to millions of destinations around the world, at a reasonable cost.
2. World’s most advanced systems for tracking, scheduling and rerouting oil shipments
had been developed by EXXON. Its global fleet of tankers, which was at the mercy
of ocean weather, political and military unrest, and changing market conditions,
was efficiently management tracked to worldwide destinations.
3. The Houston 911 emergency dispatch system had looked out for how to co-ordinate
hundreds of ambulances and fire and police vehicles in response to unpredictable,
often life-threatening problems. City traffic, incomplete information, or inaccurate
addresses were among the system’s daily challenges.
All these model of organization model had one thing in common which was to develop
systems for quickly and accurately capturing, responding to, and sharing information about
their customers needs. Therefore, they were able to substitute management of information
for deployment of costly assets such as trucks, ships and employees – bits in place of atoms.

The interior issue Cemex faced was how to create a system for more reliable information
flow and instantaneous transmission among customers, the cement plants, and the delivery
vehicles. The ideas that borrowed from the three models and from other organizations, as
well as its own research on the latest information technology, Cemex began to invest in big
engines that would connect the entire company in an efficient network.

One section of the solution was put in place during the years 1987 to 1989: CEMEXNET, a
satellite system for communications. This system enabled electronic connections among all
11 of Cemex’s Mexican cement production facilities. An essential benefit of the
establishment of CEMEXNET was the gradual automation of the company’s back-office
functions. The distribution of financial and other information was streamlined, and
accurate decision making was facilitated. Generating and implementing a purchase order,
for example, can be done in less than two hours using CEMEXNET.