32nd Annual Conference of the International Group for Lean Construction (IGLC 32) - Auckland, New Zealand - 2024

https://doi.org/10.24928/2024/0195

Mass Customized Products for Industrialized Construction: Challenges and Opportunities

Manoela Conte1, Iris D. Tommelein2, Carlos Torres Formoso3 & Randall Miller4

1PhD Candidate, Postgraduate Program in Civil Engineering: Construction and Infrastructure, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, Brazil, [email protected], orcid.org/0000-0002-1684-1563
2Distinguished Professor, Civil and Environ. Engineering Department, Director, Project Production Systems Laboratory, Univ. of California, Berkeley, USA, [email protected], orcid.org/0000-0002-9941-6596
3Professor, Building Innovation Research Unit (NORIE), Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS). Porto Alegre, RS, Brazil, [email protected], orcid.org/0000-0002-4772-3746
4PhD Student, Civil and Environmental Engineering Department, Project Production Systems Laboratory, University of California, Berkeley, USA, [email protected], orcid.org/0009-0005-5277-6059

Abstract

Developing mass customized products for industrialized construction (IC), including single- and multi-family modular housing, requires multidisciplinary, collaborative, and iterative approaches from the first stages of product development. Despite this, decisionmaking based on data pertaining to companies’ capabilities and increasing diversity of customers’ needs in IC is still in its infancy. Catalogs of houses are often extensive yet fail to take advantage of IC strategies (such as mass customization (MC), product platform, modularity, and product families), thereby undermining the competitiveness of IC against traditional construction. An opportunity exists to enhance communication among stakeholders, fostering decisions about catalog offerings based on clear understanding of their requirements, robust data analysis, and continuous improvement. This paper discusses practices, challenges, and opportunities related to the development of products and integration among stakeholders in the IC context. The research method comprised three steps: developing theoretical understanding, conducting two ongoing studies in Brazil and the United States, and leading a workshop with experts to identify practices, challenges, and opportunities regarding the development of IC products. The preliminary results indicated the imperative need for stakeholders to work together on improving product development and production system, fostering a more competitive IC industry.

Keywords

Mass customization, industrialized construction, modular construction, product development, collaboration.

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Reference

Conte, M. , Tommelein, I. D. , Formoso, C. T. & Miller, R. 2024. Mass Customized Products for Industrialized Construction: Challenges and Opportunities, Proceedings of the 32nd Annual Conference of the International Group for Lean Construction (IGLC 32) , 881-893. doi.org/10.24928/2024/0195

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Founded in 1993, the IGLC is an international network of researchers from practice and academia in architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC) who feel that the practice, education, and research of the AEC industry have to be radically renewed in order to respond to the global challenges ahead.

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