Modular and Offsite Construction (MOC) Summit Proceedings
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Critical Review of the Principles of Design for Disassembly
Get PDFDesign for disassembly (DfD) is a promising sustainable design paradigm for the construction sector development. Thus, the study provides a critical review on the principle of design for disassembly for a period of 8year. The study revealed that documentation of materials and methods, standardization of components and use mechanical joints instead of chemical joints were most frequent principle that are used for design for disassembly. The finding revealed that authors from Australia, United Kingdom and United states have made the most contribution to principles on DfD. Moreover, the study has provided a checklist to promote this design paradigm
Smart Manufacturing Support to Product Platforms in Industrialized House Building
Get PDFSwedish house building companies currently face many challenges in terms of fluctuating market demand, need for flexible product offering, non-uniform governmental regulations, high costs, and long lead times. These challenges affect both internal and external efficiency of companies. Product platforms have been used for more than a decade in this industry to improve both internal and external efficiency. However, the industry is still criticized for its inefficient and costly process. Smart manufacturing has emerged as means to improve the efficiency of internal processes and the question is if and how smart manufacturing can complement and support product platforms in industrialized house building. The aim of this study is to explore the potential of smart manufacturing to complement and support product platforms in theory and practice in the context of industrialized house building. A literature review and a multiple case study were chosen to fulfill the study objective. In total fourteen semi-structured interviews were conducted in two timber house building companies. The data was analyzed within and across cases using four platform assets for categorization: components, processes, knowledge and relationships. The results show that the smart manufacturing technologies are in both theory and practice mainly supporting the process platform asset through developing vertical and horizontal IT systems integration, definition and digitalization of flexible building systems, and transferring explicit drafting and engineering knowledge into parametric modelling tools
Simulation Based Approach for the Industrialization of a Cabinet Manufacturing Facility
Get PDFHigh-end cabinet making is traditionally an artisan process that utilizes few manufacturing principles. Manufacturing lead time, labor hours required, and productivity can be improved by industrializing the process. This paper focuses on a case study of a high-end cabinet manufacturer in Edmonton AB, Canada and the proposed process and facility improvements. First, computer simulation using Simphony.NET and movement analysis of people/materials of the cabinet manufacturer’s current state of operations is conducted to establish a baseline. Next, suggested process and facility layout improvements and their anticipated results are quantified through future state simulation in order to aid management in making decisions for plant changes and to prove their effectiveness. These improvements include: application of lean principles, modification of their current production methods to reduce bottlenecks, and future state facility layout based on an optimized flow of people and materials
Assessing the Environmental Implications of Industrialized Housing: a Systematic Literature Review
Get PDFIndustrialized Housing (IH), also referred to as prefabrication, preassembly, modularization, and/or off-site fabrication, is a growing strategy for constructing housing. IH offers potential for significant reduction of environmental impact in comparison to traditional housing construction. Past research used methods such as environmental impact assessment on given case study buildings or expert’s opinions to identify the benefits and drawbacks present on the lifecycle of houses constructed partially or fully using IH methods. Nevertheless, this literature is scattered across several sources and units of analysis. The specific factors of IH that contribute to environmental impact reduction have not been comprehensively reviewed and summarized from design considerations up to the end of life possibilities. In this paper, a systematic literature review is performed on the environmental implications of the industrialized way of constructing residential buildings. From a review of 49 journal publications, this paper identifies 18 key factors that influence the environmental performance of such residential buildings. These factors are categorized into the following lifecycle phases of the IH process: a) system design, b) material design, c) manufacturing and logistics, d) transportation and assembly, e) Operational phase, and f) end of life. Findings reveal the importance of decisions made in design phases such as choice of materials, which in turn show a snowball effect throughout the phases. A final category – g) support and hindrance of IH - includes a discussion of external factors such as building codes and regulatory policies and their impact on IH performance
Data Analytics Application for Non-Conformance Reports in a Cabinet Manufacturing Facility
Get PDFIndustrialization of building construction through offsite construction and modularization is an effective approach for improving performance of construction projects. In a modular construction approach, building components are produced in a well-controlled factory environment. The components are then delivered to site, in sequence, for installation by site crews. This process reduces construction waste, improves product quality, and minimizes onsite safety incidents. As the market conditions are rapidly changing, the demand for more customized and unique products is increasing. Customers increasingly demand customized dwellings to reflect their cultural tastes and personal preferences. Cabinets in the house, kitchen or otherwise, are building components that constitute a large portion of the visible customization that customers are interested in. This paper focuses on the analysis of records in Non-Conformance Reports (NCRs) at a cabinet manufacturing facility in Alberta, Canada. An NCR record represents a defect in any product that needs a repair or rework; it captures several attributes of the defective part, such as the job number, wood species, stain, the date and time when the record is created, etc. The systematic approach presented in this study employs data analytics to the collection, cleaning, and analysis of the NCR dataset. The dataset is first analyzed as per existing operations. Various data pre-processing techniques, including attribute and instance selection and transformation, are then applied to clean the dataset. The results show that most of the “Rework” results from administrative or product handling errors, while the majority of “Repairs” result from product finishing errors. The impact of repairing the defective parts is discussed, and recommendations to reduce the number of NCRs and thereby enhance the performance of operations are presented
Investigation of Influencing Factors on Air Leakage of Canadian Dwellings
Get PDFAir leakage is one of the main influencing factors in buildings’ thermal performance. The adverse effects of poor air leakage include higher energy costs, consumption in space heating and cooling, poor thermal comfort, corrosion, and the growth of molds due to air leakage induced condensation. The main objective of this study is to investigate the characteristics of air leakages of Canadian homes related to construction methods, age, size and climatic zones. The air leakage test results of 226,000 dwellings in three provinces of Canada were analyzed. Statistical analysis was utilized to compare the mean of air leakage with respect to different factors. Generally, the air leakage decreased by 40% in the period from 1960 until 2018, which has shown a remarkable effect of new construction techniques on air leakage. Investigations also indicated that the average air leakage rate of homes constructed by using the onsite technique is approximately 25% to 60% higher than those prefabricated in modular or panels, varying with respect to the workmanship and construction quality control. This study concluded that the prefabricated construction techniques could decrease the air leakage rate significantly, which will have a remarkable effect on buildings’ thermal performance as well as home’s heating and cooling costs. The findings contribute to estimating the effects of influencing factors on air leakage, also it is useful in performance simulations, HAVC sizing and energy management. And recommend the use of the prefabricated in modular or panel’s construction method to achieve better and acceptable air leakage performance
Logistics Planning and Visualization of Modular Integrated Construction Projects Based on BIM-GIS Integration and Vehicle Routing Algorithm
Get PDFLogistics planning is a critical part of developing supply chain for modular integrated construction (MiC) projects in Hong Kong where high-rise, high density and hilly landscape is the norm. It is important to minimize the total logistics and to guarantee timely delivery of modules, especially for several MiC projects being constructed during the same period. Nevertheless, there is a significant lack of studies on logistics planning, optimization and visualization for MiC projects. The aim of this paper is to establish an integrated MiC logistics planning and visualization platform, which is grounded on the integration of building information modeling (BIM), geographical information system (GIS) and vehicle routing problem (VRP) algorithm. The framework is then presented and evaluated using a case study to identify optimal logistics scenario of trailer routes to meet the installation time window of MiC projects in Hong Kong. The paper finds that the proposed platform has the ability to make optimized logistics scenario for MiC projects, and to visualize the logistics scenario in a 3-dimentional interactive environment. Future study will focus on adopting flexible control strategies and including more decision-making criteria of logistics planning in MiC projects such as road width limitation, travel speed and different module type
Automatic Material Estimation by Translating BIM Data into ERP Readable Data for Panelized Residential Construction
Get PDFOffsite construction methods have been promoted and recognized globally as advanced construction techniques. Panelization, a two-dimensional form of offsite construction has brought about many benefits including lower transportation requirements and design flexibilities. In North America, the panelized construction technique has become popular particularly for wood-frame wall panels for residential construction. However, although utilizing this advanced construction method can greatly improve the working environment and productivity, the conventional mentality in construction, which overlooks the value of an automated management system to support offsite prefabrication and onsite installation, hinders its potential. An automatic material estimation system can capture all computer-aided design (CAD) data from building information modeling (BIM) files automatically and convert them into enterprise resource planning (ERP) readable data so that the ERP system can be updated for the purpose of material estimation. With the assistance of a feature-based modeling method, the proposed automatic material estimation system can save huge amounts of manual work for quantity take-off and all required CAD data can be captured by the system in a few seconds. Although highly dynamic market demands result in continual changes in design, production plan, schedule, and inventory levels, the adoption of an automatic material estimation system could account for these dynamic changes in order to maximize production. Therefore, in this paper, an automatic material estimation system is proposed in order to enhance the design and estimation process in the manufacturing environment. The proposed system is introduced and the development of supportive software is described. The proposed system is implemented as a case study in a panelized construction manufacturing facility, ACQBUILT, Inc., based in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
Lean as an Integrator of Modular Construction
Get PDFThe use of Lean concepts is growing in several industrial sectors. Corporations are seeking new ways to achieve improved operational performance and to identify process improvement measures to improve workflows. The research presented in this proposes to achieve a conceptual framework that can be used in the modular construction market. The research method selected is Design Science Research (DSR), since the research proposes to create a new artifact constituting the integration of Lean Manufacturing, Lean Thinking, Lean Construction and Lean Office in a consistent manner and one that can accommodate Integrated Project Delivery (IPD). In this paper, Permanent Modular Construction (PMC) will be investigated as an industrial construction process. PMC consists of the manufacture of components of the building with volumetric geometry, produced outside the construction site in a factory environment and then transported to the worksite to be assembled with a set of other modules, with comparably few construction activities carried out on site. In order to execute projects using this construction method it is necessary to integrated design, factory operations, transportation and construction site operations, accounting for different locations and different characteristics in a single workflow: this is one of the primary challenges of PMC
Environmental Benefits of Reusable Modular Mass Timber Construction for Residential use in Japan: an LCA Approach
Get PDFThe demand for wooden buildings in Japan consistently reaches figures over 50 million square meters per year. However, the building industry in Japan is based on the constant renewal of the building stock, leading to a short average lifespan, and an unsustainable and wasteful system both from the environmental and economic point of view. As an alternative to this situation, this study assesses the environmental benefits of a modular mass timber system using CLT, designed for consecutive reuse. First, the study presents an award-winning proposal for a modular, reusable mass timber system for residential construction in Japan. After, the study calculates the Global Warming Potential of construction (GWP) of the reusable system in comparison to a conventional mass timber system (benchmark), using the Lifecycle Assessment (LCA) method. The study evaluates the proposed system in two different locations, within 60 years. Three different scenarios for forest resources are considered during the above time-frame, namely stable forest (standard), growing forest (optimistic) and decreasing forest resources (pessimist) to understand how changes in the carbon flow of forests could impact the environmental output of the construction. The results show a modular construction system can be used to provide high-quality dwellings in Japan leading to a significant potential for mitigating the impacts of construction on the environment. More specifically, a growing forest scenario provides the smallest GWP, more than 100% smaller than the benchmark