Lara Mansour, Author at Giatec Scientific Inc.

Unlocking Mix Optimization with Giatec’s Concrete AI Assistant

Lara Mansour October 9, 2025

The concrete industry is under growing pressure. Producers must maintain high-quality standards while also reducing costs, material waste, and carbon emissions. Traditional mix management methods lack adaptability, as they rely on outdated, manual, and reactive processes. In this context, Giatec’s Roxi™ emerges as a powerful example of Concrete AI, reshaping how producers manage and optimize their mixes. In this blog, let’s take a look at how Giatec’s AI assistant supports concrete production. The Challenges of Traditional Mix Management To begin, concrete producers face major daily challenges: raw material variability, strict specs, and limited real-time visibility. Most producers overdesign by 600–700 PSI, resulting in the overuse of about 80 lbs of cement per cubic yard on average, according to the NRMCA yearly quality survey. These inefficiencies lead to higher production costs, environmental impacts, and underutilization of available resources. Traditional methods lack…

Concrete Slump Monitoring: 4 Areas Slump Is Costing You

Lara Mansour September 30, 2025

Concrete slump affects more than just the mix; it impacts profitability, productivity, and performance across your entire operation. Even small variations can have a ripple effect, causing delays, wasted materials, and driving up costs. Yet, traditional slump testing remains cumbersome, subjective, and highly variable. Results often come too late, forcing teams to react after issues arise rather than prevent them proactively. The lack of real-time, accurate data also creates blind spots, making coordination difficult. Additionally, producers are forced to overdesign mixes to compensate for added water that is not measured. In this blog, let’s look at the four critical areas where slump continues to weigh on producers. We’ll also highlight how advanced concrete slump monitoring solutions like MixPilot™ can give producers full visibility and control. 1. Operations Without real-time visibility into your concrete’s slump, temperature, and volume, maintaining efficiency across…

Bridging the Gap in In-Transit Concrete Monitoring

Lara Mansour September 16, 2025

Ready-mix producers face a critical blind spot: once the truck leaves the batch plant, they lose visibility into what’s happening inside the drum. Yet this is when some of the most unpredictable changes can occur. Properties like air content, temperature, and slump fluctuate during transit, and without integrated monitoring, these shifts can go unnoticed. Producers struggle to share information or coordinate proactive interventions due to limited integration across operations, fleet, and quality monitoring. In a just-in-time market, this lack of connectivity can prevent timely decision-making and leave operations exposed to variability, inefficiencies, and risk. Accurate testing alone isn’t enough. Unless monitoring solutions are fully integrated with operational workflows, producers cannot achieve the real-time insights needed to manage concrete quality from plant to pour. In this blog, we’ll explore why limited visibility and fragmented systems continue to challenge producers. We’ll also…

Can the Right Concrete Mixture Maximize Material Margins?

Lara Mansour May 20, 2025

In the competitive world of ready-mix concrete production, the choice and management of materials are becoming increasingly important. Rising material costs and environmental concerns push producers to rethink how they manage their concrete mixtures. In this blog, we will explore how material management impacts profitability, the limitations of over-specifying concrete mixtures, and the need to adapt as sustainable practices are pushed. Hidden Costs of Concrete: Understanding the Impact As the demand of concrete continues to grow, so do the costs associated with the materials used to produce it. According to the NRMCA Industry Data Survey, material costs account for approximately 55% of total production costs in the ready-mix industry. Within the materials cost, cementitious materials account for 55%, aggregates for 40%, and admixtures for 3%. Cement, the primary ingredient in concrete, has seen significant price increases in recent years, cutting…

Cybersecurity in Ready-Mix Operations: Bridging the Digital Divide

Lara Mansour March 5, 2025

The concrete industry has long been known for its slow adoption of new technologies. While this caution may serve to maintain traditional methods, it leaves ready-mix operations vulnerable to a major digital-age challenge: cybersecurity. As the industry embraces digital tools and AI-driven solutions, many businesses find themselves unprepared to tackle the cybersecurity threats that follow. Another factor contributing to this challenge is the lack of awareness about cybersecurity practices among employees. Without proper training and protocols, businesses risk falling victim to cyberattacks that can disrupt their operations and compromise sensitive data. People are often considered the weakest link in cybersecurity, especially employees who are less familiar with digital tools and practices. For instance, concrete truck drivers who may not engage with technology as frequently can become more vulnerable to cyber threats. This blog explores cybersecurity challenges for concrete producers and…

Mastering Slump: The Key to Quality Concrete

Lara Mansour December 31, 2024

In concrete production, the truck does not simply serve as a means of transportation. The mixer plays a key role in the manufacturing process, functioning as a “factory on wheels”. Each truckload is carefully batched to meet project specifications, but the outcome depends on managing several variables in transit. One of the most critical yet often misunderstood components is the slump–a measure of concrete’s consistency and workability. In this blog, we’ll explore why accurate slump measurements are crucial, the challenges associated with maintaining slump, and how improving visibility and control during the process can be the competitive advantage needed. What is a Slump Test? A slump test is conducted to measure the consistency and workability of fresh concrete. Often conducted by a third party, this test evaluates whether concrete meets the required specifications for a particular project. Depending on the…

Can Optimized Concrete Mixtures Drive Sustainable Construction?

Lara Mansour September 13, 2024

Optimizing concrete mixtures is essential in adapting to evolving sustainability requirements being imposed on ready-mix organizations globally. However, this effort is challenged by several factors including the emergence of new materials, evolving demands, diverse market standards, and limitations in testing practices. This blog explores these challenges and outlines how industry stakeholders can collaborate to drive sustainable construction practices with optimized concrete mixtures. Complexities of Optimizing Concrete Mixtures Overcoming the Challenges: Collaborative Solutions Addressing the complexities of optimizing concrete mixtures for sustainable construction requires a multifaceted approach. Industry stakeholders must collaborate, share knowledge, and embrace new technologies to drive progress at the rate required to match growing demands. Finding the Best Mix Management System One prominent example is Giatec’s latest mix management system, SmartMix™. Powered by AI, SmartMix analyzes data from your concrete operations to deliver immediate reports and insights, highlighting…

Optimizing Concrete Operations: Is Interoperability the Key?

Lara Mansour June 4, 2024

In the effort of optimizing concrete operations from design to pouring, the industry struggles with a pervasive challenge: the existence of data silos. Data in concrete operations often resides in closed systems, scattered across various platforms, lacking integration for efficient decision-making. This lack of interoperability hinders operational efficiency, and most importantly stifles innovation in an already lagging industry. Addressing this challenge requires an industry-wide effort to unify disparate data sources into an open system, enhancing insights and decision-making. With the industry gradually moving towards technological advancement, now it is more crucial than ever to prioritize interoperability. However, there are obstacles in the journey towards achieving this interoperable ecosystem, including technological barriers, preference for tradition, and lack of awareness on the transformative potential of data integration. Closed Systems Vs. Open Systems Closed systems are traditional, siloed approaches where information and…

Artificial Intelligence in Concrete: Buzzword or Buzzworthy?

Lara Mansour April 18, 2024

The concept of artificial intelligence in concrete is frequently discussed, yet its practical application and effectiveness remain elusive. Despite the buzz, there seems to be a lack of understanding of what industry challenges can be solved with artificial intelligence and how. Hence, there is a need to shed light on its practical implications, bridging the gap between theoretical concepts and tangible solutions. As a pioneer in artificial intelligence in concrete, Giatec® interviewed quality control professionals from over 20 companies throughout North America. The purpose was to identify primary challenges impacting their businesses and areas where artificial intelligence could effectively apply. The interviews revealed four key issues consistently present across companies of all sizes and market demands: Understanding these challenges better, it became evident that they all converge into a central issue: overdesign. Rooted in a complex interplay of industry dynamics, overdesign…

About Giatec

Giatec is a global company revolutionizing the construction industry by bringing smart testing technologies and real-time data collection to the forefront of every jobsite. Giatec’s suite of hardware and software products has leveraged advanced technologies such as AI and the Internet of Things (IoT), including wireless concrete sensors, mobile apps, and advanced non-destructive technologies (NDT) to drive innovation throughout concrete’s lifecycle and reduce concrete’s carbon footprint.

Our suite of hardware and software products has leveraged advanced technologies such as; Artificial Intelligence (AI), and Internet of Things (IoT), including; wireless concrete sensors, mobile apps, and advanced non-destructive technologies (NDT) to drive innovation throughout concrete’s lifecycle.

Combining wireless concrete sensors and mobile apps, Giatec has developed smart IoT-based technologies, like SmartRock® concrete maturity sensors, for real-time monitoring of concrete properties. This provides critical information to contractors so they can make efficient and informed decisions on the jobsite, ultimately saving time and money. Ready-mix producers also leverage the SmartRock® Plus cloud, which gives them access to concrete performance data to optimize their mix designs.

Wireless Sensors and NDT Technologies

Lara Mansour

About Giatec

Wireless Sensors and NDT Technologies

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