Cement, aggregates and ready-mix
Implementation plan

Cement, aggregates and ready-mix producer · 1 cement plant, 4 quarries, 6 batching plants · 310 employeesThis War Map shows how we turn an operational review into an implementation plan. The dates show a possible sequence; the scope and schedule of a real engagement are agreed with you.

Implementation plan

What to fix first, how long it takes, and which decisions stay with your people. 8 initiatives across 4 departments. €620-900K illustrative annual gross value.

Priorities at a glance

  • 8 initiatives across 4 departments
  • €620K to €900K in illustrative annual gross value
  • Sample target: credit watch and quarry reporting live in month 1
  • Target: trucks loaded without a phone call when the order and credit are already clear

Automation Opportunity Map

The goal is not to add AI on top of chaos. The goal is to turn repeated fires into infrastructure: context assembled automatically, decisions routed to the right level, exceptions escalated only when human judgment is actually needed. The figures below show direct value by initiative. Broader operational value is modeled separately.

Matching and updates use deterministic rules. An agent can classify a free-text request, gather records or draft a response. Software-enforced access, validation, duplicate handling and named human approvals govern consequential actions.

The two estimates (direct value by initiative; projected annual value by operational effect) are alternative, overlapping views. Do not add them. Ranges are teaching assumptions without source measurements: volumes, time, loaded cost and error cost require validation. Investment, operation and adoption ramp remain to be deducted.

Low complexity
Med complexity
High complexity
Direct initiative value: €580-840K/yr
Gate and weighbridge2 items
€230-330K
Gate pre-check: order and credit confirmed before loading
€160-230KMed
Current state
35 trucks a day wait while the operator phones sales admin or credit. Each hold averages 38 minutes. The weighbridge works from a printed order list and a morning credit list.
Target state
When a truck is announced or weighs in, an agent matches plate, haulier and customer to the open Sage X3 order and the current credit status, and prepares the ticket. The operator confirms. Credit holds go to the credit controller with exposure and payment history attached, and she decides.
€160-230K/yrWeeks 5-10MedDepends on: Credit watch: real exposure per customer every morning
Delivery-note sync: amended notes reach Sage X3 the same day
€70-100KMed
Current state
About 12 amended notes a day are rejected by the nightly import and re-keyed. Average 3.4 days from error to corrected invoice.
Target state
Amendments are captured once, checked against the weighbridge record and proposed to sales admin as a ready correction. Price changes still need the sales manager's approval. Each correction keeps a cause code.
€70-100K/yrWeeks 3-7Med
Ready-mix dispatch2 items
€140-200K
Order change intake: one record for every concrete order change
€80-110KMed
Current state
Changes arrive by phone, email and WhatsApp. Julien retypes each one into the batching PC and calls the drivers. 43% of orders changed on the observed day.
Target state
Changes from any channel are read into a single order record and shown to the dispatcher as a proposed update to the plan. Julien accepts or adjusts. The batching PC and Sage X3 receive the same confirmed values.
€80-110K/yrWeeks 3-8Med
Live dispatch board: plants, company trucks and hauliers in one view
€60-90KHigh
Current state
The dispatch board is an Excel file kept by one person. Haulier trucks are located by phone.
Target state
A shared board fed by confirmed orders, batch tickets and GPS, with hauliers confirming through a message link. A second dispatcher must run a full shift from it before handover is accepted.
€60-90K/yrWeeks 9-13HighDepends on: Order change intake: one record for every concrete order change
Finance and sales admin2 items
€120-170K
Credit watch: real exposure per customer every morning
€50-70KLow
Current state
Émilie exports a credit list from Sage X3 to Excel each morning. Delivered tonnage that is not yet invoiced is missing from it.
Target state
Each morning, exposure per customer includes open invoices and delivered but uninvoiced loads. Customers near their limit are flagged with their payment history. Émilie decides holds and releases; the agent only prepares them.
€50-70K/yrWeeks 2-4Low
Proof of delivery: signed notes matched to invoices
€70-100KMed
Current state
Signed paper notes come back with the drivers and are scanned weeks later. Disputes wait while someone finds the right copy.
Target state
Drivers photograph the signed note on site. Each note is matched to its invoice and attached before the monthly statement goes out, so disputes are answered with the document in hand.
€70-100K/yrWeeks 7-11MedDepends on: Delivery-note sync: amended notes reach Sage X3 the same day
Plants and quarries2 items
€90-140K
Maintenance memory: crusher history and parts at hand
€60-90KMed
Current state
Crusher breakdowns are entered in GMAO days later, without a cause. Parts are tracked in a separate Excel list.
Target state
Technicians dictate or photograph the intervention, and a GMAO work order is drafted with cause, parts and duration for them to confirm. Parts in all four quarry stores are visible before an urgent order is placed.
€60-90K/yrWeeks 8-12Med
Quarry reporting pack: monthly environmental data assembled
€30-50KLow
Current state
Claire spends 3 days a month copying weighbridge, lab and blasting data into a template. Permit tracking happens once a month.
Target state
Data is gathered and compared with last month and with permit limits, with gaps listed. Year-to-date extraction is visible every week. Claire reviews and signs; the agent never submits anything.
€30-50K/yrWeeks 2-5Low

Implementation Timeline

Weeks are relative to implementation start; months represent four four-week blocks. Dependent work can be prepared in parallel with test fixtures, but production release waits for sync acceptance. This is a scenario schedule.

  1. Credit Watch

    Weeks 2 to 4

  2. Quarry Reporting

    Weeks 2 to 5

  3. Delivery-note Sync

    Weeks 3 to 7

  4. Order Change Intake

    Weeks 3 to 8

  5. Gate Pre-check

    Weeks 5 to 10

  6. Proof of Delivery

    Weeks 7 to 11

  7. Maintenance Memory

    Weeks 8 to 12

  8. Live Dispatch Board

    Weeks 9 to 13

  9. Group-wide Yard and Dispatch View

    Weeks 13 to 16

Month 1: Credit watch and quarry reporting go live, with a person checking every output. Delivery-note sync and order change intake start on one quarry and two batching plants.

Month 2: Gate pre-check pilots at the cement plant weighbridge. Order changes flow to the batching PCs after dispatcher confirmation. First measured drop in held trucks.

Month 3: Gate pre-check extends to the four quarries. Proof of delivery and maintenance memory in production. Target: compare holds and corrections with the September baseline.

Month 4: Live dispatch board in use. A second operator runs the gate and dispatch for a full shift. Target: confirm released capacity without double counting, then hand over.

Projected Annual Value

Truck turnaround: about 5,500 truck-hours a year of gate holds (haulier waiting charges, company truck rotations)€200-280K
Less returned concrete and fewer wasted loads from late changes€120-180K
Shorter unplanned crusher stops€120-180K
Staff capacity released at the gate, in sales admin, dispatch and credit (80.3 h/week register)€110-160K
Fewer disputes and write-offs, less compliance preparation time€70-100K
€620-900K
projected annual value

Direct initiative value is the sum of the eight initiatives. The projected figure adds effects that cross initiatives, such as truck turnaround. Released hours go back to customers, plant performance and safety; no headcount reduction is assumed. Cash brought forward by faster corrections is a timing gain and is kept out of the annual value.

Phase 1
War Map
Sample deliverable
Phase 2-3
Implementation
12-16 weeks
Phase 3+
Ongoing
Usage-based

How much time could this free up?

Choose one non-overlapping task category and the people who actually perform it. These inputs are scenario assumptions; replace them with a measured baseline.

180
52,000
40
31
40

2,232

Task hours per week

€2,901,600

Annual cost allocated to this work

892.8

Potentially released hours per week

€1,160,640

Annual gross value of that capacity

Hours = people × weekly hours × task share. Allocated cost = people × annual loaded cost × task share. Potential capacity multiplies each by the releasable share.

This is not net ROI or a payroll saving. Necessary manual work remains. Adoption and quality must be measured; actual uptake may be lower. Implementation investment, model and hosting costs, maintenance and supervision are excluded. Cash savings require a separate spending decision; otherwise the benefit is capacity available for other work.

How We Work

1
War Map Review
We walk through this deliverable together. You challenge the numbers, confirm the priorities, and tell us what we missed. This is your map. We built it, but you own it.
2
Remediation
Before we build anything, we fix what needs fixing. Data quality, missing SOPs, system access. Your team gets briefed on the plan. No surprises.
3
Build + Deploy
We work directly with your operations team. Systems go live one at a time, in priority order. Release gates cover representative cases, permissions, failures and escalation; consequential actions retain the agreed human authorization. This illustrative schedule targets first production results in month 1.
4
Transfer
We train your team. We document everything. We make sure the people who run your operations can run these systems without us. The capability is yours permanently.
5
Exit
Handover is accepted when your team can operate and recover the agreed systems. Any continuing support is separately scoped, with a named owner and a documented exit.

War Map

A real engagement is scoped in the Strategy Session and may begin with a War Map or a bounded Feasibility Sprint.

Request a Strategy Session

Direct accountability. Scope agreed before work begins.