# Keynote Case Study: American Concrete Institute: Even Concrete Was Becoming A Fast Industry.
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Jim Carroll's keynote opened the American Concrete Institute's conference in Philadelphia by showing how 3D printing and new construction methodologies were moving rapidly from experimental idea to industry reality. The keynote, "Even Concrete Was Becoming A Fast Industry," laid out the challenge and the path forward. A material associated with permanence was being transformed by digital design, additive methods and faster innovation cycles — a shift the industry's traditional pace of change had not prepared it for. Six trends are shaping that shift. 3D Printing In Concrete. Additive construction methods were moving from research labs toward real job sites. Digital Design. Design tools were compressing the distance between concept and buildable structure. New Methodologies. Construction techniques built for a slower era were being challenged by faster, more flexible approaches. Materials Innovation. New mixes and formulations were expanding what concrete could structurally and aesthetically do. Faster Innovation Cycles. Ideas that once took a decade to reach the job site were arriving in a fraction of the time. Industry Reinvention. An industry built on permanence was learning to treat its own methods as a moving target. The industry's foundation may be concrete, Jim told ACI's members. Its future is increasingly digital, additive and fast. Few industries carry more physical evidence of permanence than concrete construction. That's exactly why Jim opened with it: if change was arriving even here, no industry could reasonably claim to be exempt. Explore more keynote case studies.

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Source: https://jimcarroll.com/2016/10/keynote-case-study-american-concrete-institute-even-concrete-was-becoming-a-fast-industry-2/