AI Part 2: The Concrete Case for AI Bots

Artificial intelligence is in the house—and it’s about to shake things up! Google, now a verb per Merriam-Webster, controls over 90 percent of the internet search market. Yet the search engine colossus lost over $100 million in market valuation on February 9 when its newly released AI chatbot, called Bard, gave a widely publicized wrong answer for an astronomy question.…

Read More

DeWalt links new maturity sensor to AI-enabled ConcreteDNA platform

Sources: Converge, London; CP staff Stanley Black & Decker Inc. tool brand DeWalt is teaming with Converge, U.K. developer of artificial intelligence (AI) technology for concrete, to assist producers, engineers and contractors in portland cement-optimized mix design plus accelerated pour schedules. A partnership they announced at World of Concrete 2023, Las Vegas, will see maturity metrics from the new DeWalt…

Read More

Investors back mix design developer AICrete with $4 million in seed capital

Sources: AICrete, Richmond, Calif.; CP staff Billed as the only recipe-as-a-service platform optimizing local materials for cleaner and more cost-efficient concrete, AICrete has raised $4 million in a seed funding round led by CLEAR Ventures and VoLo Earth Ventures, with participation from Cortical Ventures plus a multinational materials producer.  The capital positions AICrete to expand a proof of concept program…

Read More

Titan affiliate applies artificial intelligence to cement plant downtime prevention

Sources: CemAI, Norfolk, Va.; CP staff A recently chartered entity, operating independently but affiliated with Titan America, has entered artificial intelligence solutions for cement plant operations. CemAI concentrates on predictive maintenance, building a platform that combines a proprietary licensed software with a continuous monitoring and incident resolution service for mills around the world. The firm works through multiple remote monitoring…

Read More

Concrete.ai developers project Q3 2022 software commercialization

Los Angeles-based Concrete.ai is preparing for general release of its pioneering data science platform, programmed to reduce costs and embodied carbon intensity (CO2e) in concrete construction. Ahead of the launch, the company is filling key management positions and executing a worldwide, exclusive license from the University of California, Los Angeles for the underlying artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML)…

Read More

Concrete.ai developers prepare for software platform commercialization

Sources: Concrete.ai, Los Angeles; CP staff Concrete.ai is preparing for general release of its pioneering data science platform, programmed to reduce costs and embodied carbon intensity (CO2e) in concrete construction. Ahead of the launch, the company is filling key management positions and executing an exclusive, worldwide license from the University of California, Los Angeles for the underlying artificial intelligence (AI)…

Read More

HeidelbergCement invests in AI-mated maturity sensor technology

Lehigh Hanson Inc. parent HeidelbergCement AG has taken a strategic minority stake in Ottawa-based Giatec, whose proprietary sensors equip producers and their customers to monitor concrete maturity in real time. Combined with artificial intelligence algorithms configured to integrate with a wide range of concrete industry software solutions, the sensor data augments cement optimization, quality control, and formwork operations.  “Our investment…

Read More

The Future of Batching

Producers must decide between sticking with batching systems that do a good enough job and upgrading to one that runs masterfully with improved accuracies and uptime. Many of us grew up with the idioms “use it up, wear it out” and “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” These words of wisdom are essential for survival in a world of…

Read More

Concrete A I(nnovation)

Concrete mix technology is demanding and, all too often, thankless. We ask our people to guarantee the structural integrity of the design and minimize costs despite the host of bad things that can happen with mix components and transit. When things go right, our folks are invisible. Yet when things go wrong, they are the first to bear the brunt…

Read More

A Case for Industry 4.0 in Ready-Mix Production

New technology has sparked a revolution in concrete batch accuracy. The Fourth Industrial Revolution, commonly known as Industry 4.0, is the ongoing automation of manufacturing using Internet of Things (IoT), widespread machine-to-machine (M2M) communication, and artificial intelligence (AI). When we cut through the buzzword bingo, it’s clear that Industry 4.0 matters when it comes to batching ready-mix concrete. Batch accuracy…

Read More