Displaying items by tag: software

US: Heidelberg Materials North America has won up to US$5m from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for the development of a web-based tool to generate environmental product declarations (EPDs) for ready-mix concrete and other building materials. The finances are part of a total US$160m in EPA funding for the decarbonisation of building materials.

Heidelberg Materials North America president and CEO of Chris Ward said "With this funding, Heidelberg Materials can accelerate the push for more sustainable construction materials and transparency across the industry, while also helping our customers make more informed decisions when choosing products with a lower carbon footprint."

UK: CRH subsidiary Tarmac has partnered with sensors specialist Converge to launch predictive AI-enhanced sensors for use in concrete mix optimisation. The equipment can reduce reliance on traditional cube testing, helping to shorten construction timelines. The sensors are available to all Tarmac customers.

Tarmac ready-mix concrete head Andrew Campling said "This new partnership with Converge means we can offer even more innovations to customers as part of our lower carbon CEVO concrete brand. Alongside other solutions, including our new online carbon calculator and the easy-to-use CEVO rating system, we're providing our customers with the tools to help them reduce carbon on construction projects."

Converge CEO Raphael Scheps said "The pairing of CEVO with Converge's sensors and AI technology is a perfect match for concrete decarbonisation. By packaging our technology with Tarmac's low embodied carbon mixes, contractors can build sustainably with the confidence that they're getting all the performance they need. We're proud to be partnering with Tarmac to offer leading AI solutions to the construction industry."

Germany/North America: INFORM has announced new collaborations with two other software developers for the ready-mix concrete sector. US-based BCMI Corp and Canada-based Marcotte Systems will work with INFORM to develop AI tools for despatching ready-mix concrete.

INFORM senior vice president Thomas Bergmans, who concluded the deals at World of Concrete in the US, said “In addition to offering our proven AI-powered transport planning and execution software, we are very excited to see that these collaborations will further speed up the wide-spread use of our AI algorithms beyond our traditional markets.” Bergmans said that the collaboration with BCMI Corp will provide ready-mix producers with ‘enhanced decision-making tools, real-time logistics optimisation and intelligent automation, ultimately elevating operational performance and customer satisfaction.’ Regarding the collaboration with Marcotte, he said “By combining Marcotte's robust experience in concrete production management with INFORM’s AI capabilities, this ready-to-use solution will empower ready-mix producers.”

Israel: Cemex subsidiary ReadyMix Industries has placed a new order with transport safety technology supplier SaverOne 2014. The ready-mix concrete producer ordered a further 25 mobile phone control units for its truck fleet. The units are cloud-enabled and run off a mobile app which blocks drivers from using phones when their vehicle is in motion. The smart system can detect when a truck is stopped and differentiate between driver and passenger, enabling access when needed. Users can integrate their fleet's units with existing logistics management systems.

ReadyMix Industries completed a successful trial of SaverOne 2014's system earlier in 2022.

Germany: HeidelbergCement has joined EPEA’s Heidelberg Circular City Building Material Registry pilot project. The initiative uses EMEA’s Urban Mining Screening digital registry, which is able to estimate the composition of buildings based on building data. HeidelbergCement says that it will enable it to source construction and demolition waste for circular economic use in building materials production. This will support its ReConcrete 360° recycled concrete CO₂ reincorporation project, among other projects. The initiative will turn Heidelberg into Europe’s first Circular City.

“Full circular economy and sustainable construction are central elements of our climate strategy,” said HeidelbergCement chair Dominik von Achten. “We are focusing on the life cycle assessment of our product concrete, including the processing of demolished concrete, and returning it to the construction cycle. By 2030, we want to offer circular alternatives for half of our concrete products.” Von Achten concluded “Together with the city of Heidelberg, also a pioneer in the area of climate protection, we want to use the Circular City project to demonstrate the enormous potential of concrete recycling for future urban construction.”

Canada: HeidelbergCement has announced its acquisition of a minority stake in concrete technology developer Giatec Scientific. The group says that, together, the partners will drive the development and adoption of industry-leading sensor technology and AI-driven software in order to reduce concrete’s carbon footprint and optimise processes for HeidelbergCement’s ready-mix concrete customers.

HeidelbergCement said “Giatec’s suite of proprietary smart sensors helps with accurate monitoring of concrete throughout its lifecycle, all the way from production to delivery and placement. Combined with sophisticated AI algorithms, which learn continuously from past and present data sets, the real- time sensor data enables concrete producers to optimise concrete mixes, with up to 20% cement reduction in certain applications.”

India: ACC has launched its new Concrete Direct app for booking and live tracking concrete deliveries. The producer says that the app reduces operational follow-up calls.

Managing director and CEO Sridhar Balakrishnan said “At ACC, we recognise the need to improve and lead through digitalisation. We are happy to launch Concrete Direct, a premium digital tool that saves time and money for our customers. With such innovations, we want to enhance customer experience and build a strong ecosystem of partners to support them.”

Finland: Betolar has signed a letter of intent with Australia-based RISAB and the Vanadium Recovery Project to research the use of steel slag from which vanadium has been extracted in concrete production. Dow Jones Institutional News has reported that the company says that, through it Geoprime alkali-activated additive technology, the new slag source could replace 10% of the cement used in concrete production in Finland.

CEO Matti Löppönen said "We see a huge opportunity for Betolar here. If successful, we would be able to offer our customers a specific, currently unused slag of the steel industry to replace cement in concrete. Our customers already have experience in utilising other types of slag in the production of concrete using Geoprime. Utilising new side streams will expand the reach of our solution as planned.”

Betolar launched Geoprime in September 2021. It is currently developing a recipe-optimising artificial intelligence (AI) and data platform to bring together concrete producers and suppliers of slag, ash and other materials.