Zambrano´s gamble has paid off so far. By the first quarterof 2001, Cemex´s net sales increased to $1.6 billion, up 19percent compared with last year´s first quarter. "Our growthhas been driven by the fact that we are completelyintegrated," he says. "It makes us faster and more informedthan our competitors."

That business sense is what made the company´s redesigninnovative, says David Bovet, vice president and coleader ofthe supply chain management team at Mercer ManagementConsulting, a global strategic management company. "This isnot just a good technology application," Bovet says. "It´s abrilliant business design. They have taken the ultimatecommodity product and showed that you can achievedifferentiation through service. It isn´t so much the productor the industry, it´s rethinking what the customer wants andhow you can respond to it in a way that´s economical for thecompany."

Cemex charges a premium for its services because of theefficiency it offers, though Luna is quick to note thatprices are regulated more by the market than by thecompany. Company executives say Cemex now uses 35 percentfewer delivery trucks than it did before overhauling thesystem, or "one truck for every two" used by thecompetition. Luna projects cost savings of $100 millionduring the next year on fuel, maintenance andpayroll. Cutting costs is good for many reasons, not theleast of which is that Cemex spent almost $200 million duringthe past decade on its transformation. It is starting torecoup on that investment, mostly through reduced productioncosts that Luna attributes to the IT-business redesign.

The challenge now, he says, is to keep updating Cemex´sbusiness practices to stay ahead of the game in terms ofinnovation. "The challenge is to set an innovation processthat keeps us ahead of the game in winning customer trust,"Luna says. "It´s not a matter of who has better technology,it´s a question of who does things faster."