Industrialization of construction

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The industrialization of construction is the process through which construction aims to improve productivity through increased mechanization and automation. [1] [2] The process commonly involves modularization, prefabrication, preassembly, and mass production. [1] [3] [4] [5]

Contents

Background

Traditionally, construction has made use of manual labor such as tradesmen and subcontractors for tasks such as the installation of prefabricated elements. [6] In the industrialization phase, construction uses manufacturing processes and technology to perform off-site prefabrication, assembling building components off-site rather than at the point of installation. [6] [7] [2] Pre-assembled components are then sent to the building site in modular units. [6] [8] This type of prefabrication done away from the construction site is often referred to as externalizing work. [9]

The industrialization of construction also implements principles such as the Toyota Production System [7] [10] and agile construction [5] [11] for developing work information systems. These systems and information technology such as the Internet of Things (IoT) create real-time feedback loops for improved decision making. [3] [12]

Scholars name five stages for the industrialization of construction: management of labor, management of work, lean operations, modeling and simulation, and feedback of the source based on the study of industrialization in other industries. [13] [14]

Lean Industrial Construction [15] has far-reaching potential. Industrialized construction offers a framework for the fundamental shifts needed across the construction industry — moving from a disconnected design process to fully digital designs based on project data and from buying one-off projects to buying sustainable, productized buildings. 

Effects

Productivity in the construction industry has been far behind productivity in general manufacturing, due to the increased industrialization in general manufacturing and construction's continued reliance on field labor. [5] [16] The main aim of industrialized construction is to increase productivity and reduce costs and project time through mechanization. [1] [3] [5] [17] Industrialization makes production processes and methods more efficient and reduces loss of working hours due to adverse weather conditions. [2]

The industrialization of construction can have positive or negative effects on subcontractors and construction workers based on how well they are able to adapt to off-site working opportunities. [6] Increased mechanization may result in a shift from price to performance competition for contractors. [2]

Further reading

Related Research Articles

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Prefabrication is the practice of assembling components of a structure in a factory or other manufacturing site, and transporting complete assemblies or sub-assemblies to the construction site where the structure is to be located. Some researchers refer it to “various materials joined together to form a component of the final installation procedure“.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Norman Bodek</span> American teacher and consultant

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Offsite construction refers to the planning, design, manufacture and assembly of building elements at a location other than their final installed location to support the rapid speed of, and efficient construction of a permanent structure. Such building elements may be prefabricated offsite in a different location and transported to the site or prefabricated on the construction site and then transported to their final location. Offsite construction is characterized by an integrated planning and supply chain optimization strategy. Offsite manufacturing (OSM), offsite production (OSP) and offsite fabrication (OSF) are terms used when referring primarily to the factory work proper.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Modular construction</span> Construction technique

Modular construction is a construction technique which involves the prefabrication of 2D panels or 3D volumetric structures in off-site factories and transportation to construction sites for assembly. This process has the potential to be superior to traditional building in terms of both time and costs, with claimed time savings of between 20 and 50 percent faster than traditional building techniques.

Agile construction is an integrated system of principles and methods, and a philosophy of doing business adapted to jobsites and overall project delivery in the construction industry. It is born from agile manufacturing and project management, which is mostly used in manufacturing production, automotive and software developing teams. It is the application of the Toyota Production System to the construction industry, with two parallel paths: Measuring and improving productivity, as well as segregating and externalizing work through prefabrication and supply chain management.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Perry Daneshgari</span>

Perry (Parviz) Daneshgari is an Iranian-American entrepreneur, engineer and author born in Ahvaz, Iran. He founded MCA, which appeared on the TV Program World Business Review, in 1990 and has written many books and articles in specialized magazines and websites. Perry has an MBA from Wayne State University and a Ph.D. in mechanical engineering from the University of Karlsruhe, as well as B.S. in civil and mechanical engineering from Northwestern University. He specializes in Agile Construction, a way of doing business that focuses on adaptation and quick changes on job sites and production lines.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Heather Moore</span> American engineer

Heather Moore is an engineer from Michigan known for her research in construction management and construction productivity. She is the Vice President of Operations at MCA. She studied Industrial and Operations Engineering at the University of Michigan, and also holds an MBA from the University of Michigan-Flint, and later obtained a Ph. D in Construction Management at the Michigan State University. Her Ph.D. research focused on information entropy, with specific application in construction. Her papers and research have been used in innovation in construction development. She has co-authored two books on improving productivity on construction job sites and has published many articles in specialized magazines, including work referencing both MCA's experience in Agile Construction and the ASTM standard in combination with information entropy. She has also contributed to other books and research work conducted at MCA on topics of productivity and process design.

References

  1. 1 2 3 Industrialized Construction in Academia.
  2. 1 2 3 4 https://www.irbnet.de/daten/iconda/CIB6223.pdf [ bare URL PDF ]
  3. 1 2 3 BorjeGhaleh, Reza Mohajeri; Sardroud, Javad Majrouhi (2016). "Approaching Industrialization of Buildings and Integrated Construction Using Building Information Modeling". Procedia Engineering. 164: 534–541. doi: 10.1016/j.proeng.2016.11.655 . ISSN   1877-7058.
  4. ↑ The epic rise of industrialized construction.
  5. 1 2 3 4 Industrialization of the Construction Industry.
  6. 1 2 3 4 Goh, Edward; Loosemore, Martin (2016). "The impacts of industrialization on construction subcontractors: a resource based view". Construction Management and Economics. 35 (5): 288–304. doi: 10.1080/01446193.2016.1253856 . ISSN   0144-6193.
  7. 1 2 Tatsuhiko, Yoshimura (2002). "Mizenboushi Method. Japan". JUSE Press.
  8. ↑ Industrialization in Building Construction –Production Technology or Management Concept?.
  9. ↑ Daneshgari, Perry; Moore, Heather; Said, Hisham (2016). "Measuring and Tracking Externalized Work to Support Industrialized Construction". Modular and Offsite Construction (MOC) Summit Proceedings. doi: 10.29173/mocs17 . ISSN   2562-5438.
  10. ↑ Gann, David M. (1996). "Construction as a manufacturing process? Similarities and differences between industrialized housing and car production in Japan". Construction Management and Economics. 14 (5): 437–450. doi:10.1080/014461996373304. ISSN   0144-6193.
  11. ↑ Agile Construction Archived 2022-03-27 at the Wayback Machine .
  12. ↑ How the Internet of Things is Impacting the Construction Industry.
  13. ↑ Industrialization of Construction a Compilation to Lead the Way-Book Four: Efficiency and Continuous Improvement: Survival of the Unfits.
  14. ↑ Industrialization of Construction.
  15. ↑ "Industrialized Construction". Lean Construction Institute. Retrieved 2023-08-10.
  16. ↑ Four dimensions of industrialized construction.
  17. ↑ "Construction Executive - October 2015".
  18. ↑ Daneshgari, Perry (2024). Industrialization of Construction: How it will happen, and how to stay ahead using Agile Construction. KDP. p. 278. ISBN   9798378615001.
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