The Absence of Smart Technology as One of The Key Factors of Transportation in Modular Construction: A Case Study in Malaysia

Abstract

Modular construction is a new method introduced to meet the modernisation agenda in the Malaysian construction industry. It provides various benefits to the construction industry, such as speedier construction, quality improvement, waste minimisation, and sustainability. Despite all the promoted benefits, it still needs to be widely implemented in the Malaysian construction industry due to a need for knowledge and readiness towards modular construction. The construction industry player needed to be more sceptical about applying this new construction method in their project. Further, the application’s success in modular construction is highly associated with good transportation management; however, achieving good transportation management may be challenging because it depends on the manufacturer's understanding of designing and allocating the module. Understanding modular construction is essential to select the suitable modular type because it affects the whole process and transportation. This research aims to investigate the essential factors to be considered in the transportation of modular construction. The data collected is by interviewing modular construction companies in Malaysia. The study reveals that transportation should be taken as early as the design stage. Under the transportation process, among the factors that need to be considered are the size of the module, types of trailers, road or highway regulations, suitable route, time for transport and technologies. It is concluded in this paper that contractors managing modular transportation still have to take smart technology factors into account. Therefore, the findings of this study are hoped to be a reference for modular construction companies and other construction industry players in terms of modular construction transportation considerations.