This report examines the means and methods available for integrating and industrializing the housing construction site and the housing industry.
Historically, governmental leadership in the development of advanced materials and construction techniques for housing has been successful at focusing attention on new technologies but has not been able to significantly shorten adoption times due to extreme fragmentation in the materials production and construction industries. International efforts at industrialization have experienced similar fragmented successes but also have
struggled with widespread adoption of advanced methods of industrialization by the homebuilding industry.
Faced with significant competition from abroad, many industries in the manufacturing sector have developed or adopted broad organizational strategies, such as Just-in-Time (JIT) supply and Design for Manufacture and Assembly (DFMA) to reduce production costs, improve productivity, and improve product quality. Underpinning these strategies are information systems that are fully integrated across the business enterprise. The rapid adoption of these Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems was helped by the close scrutiny of business systems provoked by Y2K issues, increases in data network speeds, and the rise of the Internet as a business environment. Implementation of these ERP systems required industry to closely examine business and manufacturing practices and construct information models that integrate data across the research, design, inventory, production, and sales departments. The broad adoption of Object Oriented CAD software is a key step towards information integration in the housing industry. However, still to be developed are a comprehensive information model, viable linkages to field operations, and real-time tools for analysis of structural, mechanical, production and economic performance.
When manufacturing made the transformation to ERP systems, the complex interrelationships between management, product development, production and distribution departments were further rationalized. Localized optimization practices were evaluated in terms of the impact on the whole enterprise. The results were significant gains in productivity and profitability due to highly integrated product development, production, and
business systems. Similar gains are likely as information integration rationalizes commonly conflicting subsystems (heating/cooling, electrical, structural) reducing field modifications and common performance and operations losses. Information integration will enable higher levels of physical integration, higher levels of production integration, higher levels of performance integration, and higher levels of operations integration.
The advanced industrialization resources available to builders vary according to the size of the builder’s business. This report includes strategies for four scales of builders:
- The small volume builder producing fewer than twenty homes per year
- The medium volume builder producing several hundred homes per year in regional markets
- The high volume builder producing over one thousand homes per year using on-site construction methods in a national market
- The production builder using off-site fabrication methods to produce modular, manufactured (HUD code) and factory-based panelized housing.
For the small volume builder not having the resources to develop a full ERP, regional and national building supply companies could lead the industrialization effort linking the builders’ object oriented CAD files to the component-design software and ordering software currently in use.
Medium volume homebuilders are more likely to be influencing their supply chains to make use of larger scale building components such as wall
panels and roof trusses. The medium volume builders are also more likely to have company-wide purchasing and accounting systems, lacking only design production modeling and field construction information tools to have an integrated ERP system for builders.
High volume builders have more extensive supply chain influence, existing purchasing and accounting systems and sophisticated project management tools. Their steps toward industrialization will require the integration of business and project management tools, the development of design and production modeling tools, and extension of the information management systems to field construction personnel and practices.
Production builders who are producing large-scale components such as wall panels, HUD code units and modular housing in fixed plant locations are making extensive use of industrial processes. These builders have closely studied their in-plant materials movement, have considerable supply chain influence and are likely to be employing Just in Time methods to manage inventory. They are most likely to have some form of materials
requirements planning (MRP) within their production environment. The production builder group is most likely to benefit from application of design for manufacture and assembly (DFMA) techniques and increased use of new materials scaled to the machine-based handling and placing methods currently in use. Production builders are the closest to implementing enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems with the development
of production modeling and field construction information tools.
The strategies outlined in this report represent a first step in moving the residential construction industry forward using integrated industrialized systems to deliver an affordable product with improved performance and operation. The techniques identified as most promising are:
- enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems,
- object oriented CAD,
- Just-in-Time supply,
- design for manufacture and assembly (DFMA) and
- prototyping and analysis tools.
Prepared for:
Department of Housing and Urban Development
Office of Policy Development and Research
Washington, DC 20410
Prepared by:
Center for Housing Research at Virginia Polytechnic Insititute and State University
Blacksburg, Virginia 24061
87 pages