Construction Material Giant Selects MySQL Network
for Flexibility & Cost-Savings
Oct 3rd, 14:41 UTC
Critical Business System Migrated from Sybase SQL Anywhere
to Open Source Database Leader
Paris -- October 3, 2006 -- The Lafarge group, a global leader in building
materials, has selected the MySQL® database to operate the real-time
management of the different sales and dispatch phases of its Aggregates &
Concrete business. The system is already installed at over 100 quarries,
with plans to service up to 250 production sites in Europe by the end of
autumn 2006.
The Lafarge group (Euronext: LG, NYSE: LR) operates in 76 countries and
employs over 80,000 people. Its business is split into four divisions
(Cement, Aggregates & Concrete, Roofing, Plaster), with Lafarge holding the
position of world leader in each of these areas.
The operations of the Aggregates & Concrete division amounted to over 5
billion euro in 2005, with a workforce of 20,000. This division recently
developed a database application called Quartz, which uses the open source
database MySQL and enables real-time control of the various phases in the
sales and dispatch process of its materials. As in any industrial process,
the tool had to fit in perfectly with Lafarge's business procedures and
trained staff.
According to Mr J.P. Palau of Lafarge, Project leader to the IT department
of Lafarge Aggregates : "Our objective was to reduce maintenance costs while
keeping the tool simple and user-friendly, since the Lafarge group staff
using Quartz does not typically have IT skills. Furthermore, this
application is replacing an older internal program that users were familiar
with. Thanks to MySQL, the bet has now been won."
The Quartz application is used in quarries, stockyards, and factories to
handle calculation of the material loads picked up by carriers from its
production sites. It issues delivery notes, manages inventories, and prints
out reports and analyses.
Quartz is connected to an internally developed ERP system and to a weighing
indicator that determines the weight of aggregate loaded into each lorry.
When a vehicle reports for loading, it goes onto a weighbridge where it is
weighed empty. Lafarge employees then select the customer account, the
delivery site, the materials, or else they create a new account in the
database. Once the lorry has been loaded and reweighed, a delivery note is
automatically printed. Quick execution of these tasks is a basic requirement
in the context of a highly competitive business sector and Larfarge's
constant concern to meet the constraints placed on road transport carriers.
The client/server application was developed in Java and runs on Windows XP
using the Hibernate server. MySQL's compatibility with Hibernate, along with
its speed, matched up to Quartz requirements; in fact, MySQL offers
unparalleled response times. Moreover, MySQL proved very easy to install and
to administer.
Lafarge chose MySQL first and foremost for its inherent qualities: simple
administration, robustness, openness of the code, performance,
interoperability at low cost, and no vendor lock-in. The main advantage of
migrating from Sybase SQL Anywhere to MySQL resided in the freedom to manage
applications and control the source code. This flexibility enables Lafarge
to effectively pilot the development of the application and to roll it out
to up to 500 sites while keeping tight control over the budget. Furthermore,
the MySQL Network offering, which includes maintenance and fast
round-the-clock support, was also a determining factor.
After running the project in pilot mode for 45 days, the system was
successfully rolled out in early 2006 covering 17 sites. Today, over 100
quarries are equipped and the group is continuing installation at the
approximate rate of ten sites per week. By the end of the autumn 2006,
Lafarge plans to deploy the system at 250 production sites throughout
Europe.
Initial training of Lafarge's staff was provided by MySQL AB.
Richard Mason, MySQL AB's vice president of EMEA, states: "Open source
solutions such as MySQL offer flexibility and independence advantages -- in
addition to dramatic cost savings. Lafarge's choice of MySQL is an
excellent demonstration of this."
About MySQL
MySQL AB develops and supports a family of high performance, affordable
database products -- including MySQL Network, a comprehensive set of
certified software and premium support services. The company's flagship
product is the MySQL Server, the world's most popular open source database,
with more than 10 million active installations. Many of the world's largest
organizations, including Yahoo!, Alcatel, The Associated Press, Suzuki and
NASA are realizing significant cost savings by using MySQL to power
high-volume Web sites, business-critical enterprise applications and
packaged software.
With headquarters in Sweden and the United States -- and operations around
the world -- MySQL AB supports both open source values and corporate
customers' needs in a profitable, sustainable business. For more information
about MySQL, please visit http://www.mysql.com.
# # #
MySQL is a registered trademark of MySQL AB in the United States and other
countries. Other product names may be trademarks of their respective
companies.
(Submitted by Martha Jager of )
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