CEFISA has with notable success put into service the “Sistema de Gestión de Cargas” (Loading Management System) in the three Spanish Lafarge Cementos production plants in: Villaluenga de la Sagra, Montcada y Reixac and Sagunto. The system is based on the CEFIcarg product. The success of the project has led to the Award 2007 for the best project carried out in Europe that year.

The CEFIcarg system has been adapted to suit the requirements and particular commercial procedures of the Lafarge Cement Group. The system manages and controls despatch and transportation of both bulk and bagged cement shipments, as well as reception and storage of raw materials. The project encompasses integration of the Loading Management System with ERP and JDEwars systems, thus permitting all administrative and accounting procedures to be carried out automatically.

The benefits that this new system provides to the client include:

• Complete real-time integration between sales data and the ERP system for accounting, administration and commercial purposes.
• The elimination of queues of lorries at entrances of the plants.
• A drastic reduction in the time needed by transport operators for the loading cycle.
• Possibility to carry out loading 24 hours per day, 365 days per year.
• Reduction of personnel needed to operate entry and exit weighbridges, as well as in the commercial office of the plant both on night and day shifts.
• Control of compliance with all standards and legislation both in quality control (traceability of the product, checking of empty tankers, etc...) and transport (maximum loads, tickets containing all data required by road traffic standards, etc...
• The system permits shipping to continue uninterrupted in the event of failure of the ERP system, without affecting the client’s service and provides automatic reconnection with the control system.
• Automatic integration between Lafarge Cement and Transport companies.