A look at how game-changing technologies have been transforming ready mixed concrete and batching.
Cementitious materials have been around for a very long time, with the ancient Romans often cited as the first accomplished engineers to exploit them via volcanic pozzolanas. Throughout the 1700s and 1800s, significant development took place in England and France. Ultimately, ordinary portland cement—named after the Isle of Portland in Dorset, England—dominated the world as the key ingredient for the most essential material for modern infrastructure: concrete. Arguably, ready mixed concrete (RMC) plants produce the highest-quality concrete and are now controlled by batching systems.
THE DAWN OF MODERN RMC
Misfortune often drives opportunity. The ravages of World War II demanded the reconstruction of infrastructure as a national priority in much of Europe and Asia. In parallel, President Eisenhower’s vision for transportation in the U.S. demanded immense infrastructure to build out the interstate system. The European quasi-nationalized RMC producers created giant companies, whereas the free-market-focused U.S. spawned thousands of new companies dotting the nation.
The demand pressure transitioned concrete from predominantly site-mix to ready mixed delivered by trucks. This also drove improvements in structural quality control through centralized manufacturing. But batching was done by dials, wheels, and levers to control material flow through gates and valves by people with enormous arm strength who looked a bit like cartoon character Popeye the Sailor.
With the advancement of solid-state transistors through the 1960s and early 70s, many industries seized the day and applied computation to improve their operations. Alkon Corp. created one of the first fully electronic card-reading plant batching systems, measuring about 30×50 inches. Plastic cards, punched with the mix design material weights, were inserted into the machine that controlled the valves and gates to produce a batch.
GAME-CHANGER 1: DESKTOP COMPUTERS/SPECTRUM
In 1982, the Intel 80286[4] 16-bit microprocessor (aka 286) rocked the world and democratized computers by placing powerful devices on people’s desktops. Early innovators transitioned to the 286 for batching computers. They interfaced with the plant via proprietary junction boxes and manual stations to actuate endpoint devices, the most prolific being the Alkon Spectrum. These were often the only computers a material producer owned.
Fast batching is essential for the real-time nature of RMC fulfillment and reduces the cost per unit produced. The stronger computers enabled producers to address the most challenging problem for speed: tuning the open time of the gates and valves to reduce material jogs to reach the target. The computer tracked a short trail of the prior weigh-up accuracy and tweaked the open time for the next drop.
From the late 1970s through the 1980s, the U.S. RMC industry experienced massive consolidation, driving the need for functionality to coordinate more trucks, plants, mixes, quotes, etc. This resulted in functionality added to the microprocessor-based batching system for sales, logistics, quality control, and much more, pushing it toward a “mini-dispatch.”
By 2000, the two dominant companies for batching, Alkon and Precision Systems Inc., were acquired by Command Data, forming what is now known as Command Alkon. Most of the global RMC market adopted Command Alkon’s consolidated batching offering of Spectrum with Eagle batch controllers, which was repackaged as COMMANDbatch and used the original Alkon Spectrum software.
GAME-CHANGER 2: MOBILE TECHNOLOGY
In the early 2000s, significant advances in networking evolved, leading to software as a service (SaaS) and cloud computing. Combined with significant advances in computer chip technology, SaaS and cloud computing directly led to mobile handheld devices, ultimately driving the iPhone release in 2008. The Apple launch marked the world’s second major game changer in 30 years. However, the risk-averse, cost-conscious RMC industry did not demand the transition to SaaS and the cloud.
GAME-CHANGER 3: ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE (AI)
Serious batching competitors surfaced to fill the growing gap, some of which harnessed a more cost-efficient platform based on modern, generally available PLCs (programmable logic controllers). In the late twenty-teens, additional improvements in chip technology empowered practical AI, which has rocked the world again. The key win with AI for batching is tuning the drops, driving better accuracy and quality, and increasing throughput.
BIGGER THAN BATCHING
Skilled labor development and retention have always been difficult. SaaS-compatible modern batching systems can now be controlled via the cloud. This, combined with AI dispatch optimization, will empower central batching supervision by the dispatcher and reduce or even eliminate the need for plant-based batch personnel.
Let’s consider the RMC truck an extension of the plant and rebrand it as a mobile manufacturing platform. Significant advances like entrained-air measurement systems and onboard dosing allow critical measurement and correction enroute. The future of batch WILL incorporate feedback loops of characteristics of the batch in transit to impact the next batch to be created.
Unscheduled downtime is cripplingly expensive and arises due to any number of mechanical or electronic failures. “Break-fix” is the least costly approach for parts but the costliest due to delayed production and the potential financial and reputational liability. Preventive maintenance is the most expensive approach, often replacing “perfectly good” components, but it’s the most reliable. Predictive maintenance, provided it is accurate, is the least costly and most dependable approach—and with the new world of AI, modern batch systems can play a key role in pushing this forward.
Mix optimization with AI has also made huge gains. Combined with the superior accuracy of AI-optimized batching drops and SaaS connectivity, a digital virtuous feedback loop can be created to improve quality control, reduce costs, and reduce the CO2 footprint.
We have come a long way since the Roman engineers and natural pozzolans. With modern technology, we are on the verge of making huge gains in how RMC is created, reducing its cost and carbon footprint and making it even more reliable for supporting the world’s modern infrastructure.
Author’s note: Special thanks to Randy Willaman, principal at Willaman Solutions LLC, for contributing to this article.
Craig Yeack has held leadership positions with both construction materials producers and software providers. He is co-founder of BCMI Corp. (the Bulk Construction Materials Initiative), which is dedicated to reinventing the construction materials business with modern mobile and cloud-based tools. His Tech Talk column—named best column by the Construction Media Alliance in 2018—focuses on concise, actionable ideas to improve financial performance for ready-mix producers. He can be reached at [email protected].