Modular Integrated Construction Research Articles

Risks of modular integrated construction: A review and future research directions

Stakeholders remain skeptical in adopting modular integrated construction (MiC) because of the associated risks and uncertainties, although its benefits have been extensively documented. The unique business model of MiC nurtures several risks and uncertainties different from those of the conventional construction approach. Despite the growing attention on MiC with its market expansion, no systematic evaluation is in place to monitor its risks research progress. Accordingly, this research reviewed published literature addressing the risks associated with MiC from 1992 to 2019. Analysis reveals that the research publications on risks of MiC witnessed a steady growth, with considerable progress occurring in the last decade. Result implies that the risk of MiC has gained extra attention in the construction engineering and management domain in recent times. Existing empirical studies have focused heavily on perceived implementation risks, supply chain risks, schedule risks, investment risks, structural risks, ergonomic risks, and MiC risk management strategies, which indicate that MiC is associated with a host of risk events. The research further identified the critical risk events (CREs) in the application of MiC based on frequency of occurrence. The identified CREs contributes to the checklists of risk events in the implementation of offsite construction (OSC). The latter may be useful in risk planning, especially where the MiC is less developed, and fewer or no bespoke risk assessment exists. Research gaps in existing studies are highlighted in this research, and areas for further studies are then proposed. Thus, it makes a useful contribution to the scholarly literature on the risk of OSC and may prove useful to offsite construction researchers, industry practitioners, and project managers.

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Off-site construction (OSC) is an innovative and sustainable construction method. One of its critical success factors is the proper management of its supply chain (SC). Recently, significant research attention has been focused on the modelling of OSC-SC to improve its performance and sustainability. However, the literature still lacks a comprehensive review of the modelling studies on off-site construction -supply chain management (OSC-SCM). Therefore, this research contributes by providing a comprehensive and up-to-date mapping and clustering of 309 journal articles on the modelling of OSC-SC to identify its trends and gaps, and hence, highlight future research opportunities. To achieve these objectives, a mixed review method, consisting of scientometric and systematic reviews, is used. The scientometric review identifies the most prolific journals, researchers, co-occurrence network of keywords, and their citation bursts. On the other hand, the systematic review classifies the articles based on OSC type and supply chain (SC) stage. At each SC stage, the articles are further classified based on problem settings and solution methods. The results show that production problems have received the most attention (i.e., by 28% of the included articles), followed by on-site construction (19%), design (13%), and logistics (7%) problems. However, researchers are more inclined to address problems at multiple SC stages (33%) due to the interrelationship between these stages. Besides, the systematic analysis shows that OSC-SC problems have been solved frequently by a variety of solution methods such as optimization (25%), simulation (13%) and building information modelling (BIM) (9.5%). However, researchers tend more to integrate multiple solution methods (35%) to address the complexities of OSC-SC problems. Finally, the included studies are classified based on the three sustainability dimensions. The results show that economic, environmental, and social sustainability dimensions have been considered in previous studies by 72%, 24%, and 4%, respectively. Therefore, the study identifies research gaps at each SC stage of each OSC type to incentivize future studies to consider more environmental and social sustainability factors in OSC-SC models. Since modular integrated construction (MiC) has the highest prefabrication level, this study provides future research directions for sustainable supply chain management (SCM) in MiC. The present research is an important reference guide that helps researchers and practitioners to understand different problem settings and their solution methods in OSC-SCM.

Multi-storey Modular Cold-Formed Steel Building in Hong Kong: Challenges & Opportunities

Modular building construction has become widely popular across the continents, such as in America, Europe (United Kingdom), Asia (Singapore), and more recently in Australia. Promoting sustainability in construction, the application of modular construction has been successfully implemented in very broad range building functionalities. These include student residences, private housings, hotels, commercial buildings, military accommodation, health facilities, as well as other services units attached to the main buildings. Several low-rise buildings (6 to 10 stories) as well as high-rise buildings (20 to 30 stories) have used this type prefabricated off-site building system as an alternative construction method. Among those existing projects, modular steel building brings significant advantage on the manufacturing process and erection speed. These will be beneficial for Hong Kong which has very high pressure on housing demands. Due to its excellence on strength and durability, the modular integrated construction (MiC) in Hong Kong is looking to the direction of using cold-formed steel as structural component. Some challenges and opportunities are exist and these will be discussed in this paper.

An Internet of Things-enabled BIM platform for modular integrated construction: A case study in Hong Kong

In recent years, Building Information Modelling (BIM) has been acting an important role in the delivery of Modular Integrated Construction (MiC) project. However, the full potential of BIM to MiC project cannot be realized without accurate information collection, timely information exchange, and automatic decision support throughout the project life cycle. In order to fulfil such requirements, this paper aims to develop an Internet of Things-enabled BIM platform (IBIMP) for the MiC project. A real-life project located in Hong Kong were deeply explored for developing the platform. The IBIMP consists of smart construction objects (SCOs) equipped with smart trinity tag (STT) and GPS sensor, smart gateway system, data source management service, location-based service, rule-based progress control service, as well as decision support services for prefabrication production, transportation, and on-site assembly processes. With the combination of advanced Internet of Things (IoT) technology and BIM technology, the barriers that hamper the possible functions of BIM can be overcame. By using application scenarios of a subsided sale flats MiC project in Hong Kong as examples, this study demonstrates how problems encountered by independent stakeholders such as inconvenient data collection, lack of automatic decision support, and incomplete information can be addressed by the IBIMP.

Towards a decision support for modular integrated construction: an integrative review of the primary decision-making actors

Where circumstances merit and favourable conditions prevail, modular integrated construction (MiC) becomes a superior choice of construction method over the traditional approach. For many types of buildings, MiC is becoming a preferred alternative to traditional construction. However, the decision to use MiC must be made after critical analysis because several key factors and conditions need to converge to make MiC economical and feasible. As a result, this research conducted a systematic review of the determinant factors in deciding to use MiC in a project. The literature analysis identified 51 decision-making factors (DMFs) for implementing MiC. Of these, the top 5 most cited DMFs include availability of skilled and experienced factory labour force; availability of skilled management and supervising team; demanding and tight project schedule; transport infrastructure, size restrictions, and equipment availability; and need for improved construction safety. The study proposed a conceptual framework for the identified DMFs consisting of labour considerations; project characteristics; location and site attributes; and organizational factors. A stage-gate model is proposed to demonstrate the MiC implementation decision-making process. Thus, the paper contributes to a better theoretical and practical understanding of the primary DMFs for implementing MiC and will help to maximize benefits and minimize risk.

Critical success factors for modular integrated construction projects: a review

ABSTRACT Modular integrated construction (MiC) is an innovative construction approach which transforms the fragmented linear site-based construction of buildings into an integrated production and assembly of value-added prefabricated prefinished modules. As MiC has gained attention in the construction industry, more in-depth knowledge of the critical success factors (CSFs) for implementing MiC projects is imperative. This research reviewed studies on the CSFs for implementing MiC projects during the period 1993–2019. Analysis showed that the US, UK, Malaysia, Australia, and Hong Kong are the largest contributors to the MiC CSFs studies. Further analysis generated 35 CSFs for implementing MiC projects. Of these, the six most cited CSFs shared between countries and MiC projects include good working collaboration and effective communication among project participants; effective supply chain management; accurate design and early design freeze; involvement of key project participants throughout the project; suitable procurement strategy and contracting; and standardization & benchmarking of best practices. These shared CSFs can be used to develop decision support systems, enabling the prediction of project success. The developed checklists and conceptual model of the CSFs could help to guide and improve the successful implementation of MiC projects and may form a useful basis for future empirical studies.

Risks Identification and Allocation in the Supply Chain of Modular Integrated Construction (MiC)

Modular integrated construction (MiC) is an offsite construction technique which can improve construction quality, the certainty of the project cost, provide value for money and reduce construction time, waste generation, and carbon emissions. However, MiC is associated with a unique business model, engineering, supply chain, and stakeholder composition, resulting in bespoke uncertainties and risks. Prominent among them is the uncertainties and risk events in its linked supply chain segments. However, risks identification and allocation in the MiC supply chain segments is not well-established. This research identified and assessed 28 risk events (REs) across the manufacturing, logistics and on-site assembly segments of the MiC supply chain. A principal component analysis generated 10, 6 and 12 REs within the modular manufacturing, logistics, and on-site assembly segments, respectively. A fuzzy synthetic evaluation (FSE) modeling revealed that the on-site assembly REs are the most critical set of risk events with a criticality index of 5.58, followed by the modular manufacturing risk events (5.28) and logistics risk events (5.08). These rankings and criticality assessment have profound implications for the practice and praxis MiC risks management. It is a source of relevant information to stakeholders and practitioners in understanding the MiC supply chain risk events and may prioritize the riskiest events to improve the performance of MiC projects. Again, the assessed REs contributes to the checklists of MiC risk events and may form the basis for future studies on the risk of MiC. Future studies may examine the assessed risk events in different countries using larger samples.

Logistics Planning and Visualization of Modular Integrated Construction Projects Based on BIM-GIS Integration and Vehicle Routing Algorithm

Logistics 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 types

Applying Virtual Reality to Improve the Construction Logistics of High-rise Modular Integrated Construction

Modular and offsite construction is becoming increasingly popular around the world. In Hong Kong, a modular integration construction (MiC) method is identified as a pragmatic approach to speed up the housing construction program and to solve the productivity and manpower problems of the industry. Using the MiC, virtually all the construction works including the finishing as well as the mechanical and electrical installation are completed offsite. The MiC units are then delivered to and installed on site. While the MiC can shift the risks of construction projects to the factories, this construction method is not without challenges. This is particularly the case for Hong Kong as most of the construction sites in the city are cramped due to the high-density urban environment. The problem is aggravated when every modular unit is unique and they are time consuming to produce. Any damages to the MiC components during the lifting process could seriously affect the entire construction sequence under a just-in-time management philosophy. Therefore, it is imperative to plan and monitor the logistics carefully when the MiC technique is used. To reduce any human errors and increase the efficiency and accuracy of the lifting process, a virtual reality (VR) approach may be adopted to simulate the construction logistics of MiC construction and train the crane operators. In this paper, a VR model is developed to simulate the construction of a high-rise residential building in a confined site. Various functions are built into the VR model to support the decisions pertinent to lifting logistics planning. In this paper, the design considerations and functions of the VR model are identified through a series of interviews. Moreover, the validation interviews help unveil the potentials and pitfalls of the developed VR model.

Critical risk factors in the application of modular integrated construction: a systematic review

The business model of modular integrated construction (MiC) demands a unique design, engineering, supply chain, stakeholder composition, construction and management. These requirements engender manifold uncertainties and risks events which may derail the success of MiC projects. Empirical studies have examined the risks associated with MiC in different countries. However, the critical risk factors (CRFs) in the application of MiC have not been reviewed. This study conducted a systematic review and synthesis of 39 empirical studies on the risks of MiC and identified 30 CRFs. Based on the frequency of occurrences, the top ten (10) CRFs in the application of MiC have been discussed. Of these, stakeholder fragmentation and management complexity; higher initial capital cost; poor supply chain integration and disturbances; delays in delivery of modular components to the site and poor government support and regulations constitute the five (5) most CRFs. The findings are useful to countries which are yet to adopt MiC and may broaden the understanding of offsite construction researchers and practitioners on the risks of MiC. Future studies would make a quantitative ranking of the CRFs and propose management strategies.