Modularity is an approach to simplify systems and reduce complexity. However, existing research suggests that a mono-dimensional modularity strategy, focusing solely on one dimension, such as product, process, or organization, might not fully achieve these goals in design activities. This research investigates how combining strategies from various dimensions of modularity can reduce the complexity of large-scale engineering design. The Huoshenshan Hospital, a 1,000-bed hospital designed and built in 10 days, provided an extreme case study of the first emergency hospital to address COVID-19. The research identified 10 different aspects, termed ‘proximities’, which relate to how people perceive the four dimensions of modularity, specifically across organization–process–product–supply-chain dimensions. Additionally, it identified three types of reinforcement relationships aimed at diminishing complexity in design activities: modular alignment (i.e., synchronized alignment and asynchronous alignment), modular complementarity (i.e., subtraction complement and addition complement), and modular incentive relationships. This research highlights that these three types of reinforcement relationships between different dimensions of modularity can reduce complexity, allowing subsystems to support the system in working as a whole.@en

Healthcare facilities play a key role in responding United Nations goals, such as sustainability, health and welling. The outbreak of the COVID-19 epidemic has driven much attention to expanding healthcare capacity through advanced digital technologies, such as Building Information Modelling (BIM). Nevertheless, a systematic review of research achievements is lacking. This research uses bibliometric and systemic literature review methods to investigate BIM applications in Healthcare Design and Construction (HDC). The bibliometric investigation focuses on country, journal co-citation, and keyword clustering analyses. The systematic review classifies application domains, BIM actions, and other digital technologies accompanying BIM. Finally, 17 major BIM actions are summarized for six major domains, including operability, resilience, collaboration, sustainability and constructability. This study reveals that the outbreak of COVID-19 has greatly stimulated the academic interest in digital technologies for HDC, and there is geographical uniqueness highly relevant to local government policies and national healthcare services. However, related research is still in a relatively preliminary stage.@en

This study aims to use modularity to impact various facets of Design for Manufacture and Assembly (DfMA) and explore the relationship between product modularity, process modularity, and DfMA within the context of Offsite Construction (OSC). The study fills this gap through an exploratory single case study by identifying perceptual measures of these three concepts. The study shows the alignment between multi-dimensionality of modularity, such as product modularity and process modularity, enhances the capability of DfMA. From a modularity perspective, the reconfiguration of abstraction, information hiding, and interface is an essential strategy to change the traditional design process. This reconfiguration is to adapt to the new scenarios brought by OSC and digital fabrication technologies and the new design tasks associated with these scenarios. This study has theoretical implications for the modular approach to DfMA and practical implications for those who expect digital fabrication techniques in offsite construction.

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Temporary multi-organizations (TMOs) are individual temporary client organizations that are jointly established and owned by multiple shareholders to undertake the predefined purposes in megaproject delivery. We conduct in-depth analysis of the organizational configurations of TMOs through a multi-case study of five megaprojects in China. We believe establishing a TMO is a multi-factorial decision and propose two types of TMO – integrated and independent – based on distinct motives for their establishment. Different TMO structuring processes of integrated and independent TMOs further give rise to distinctive patterns of TMO configuration. Based on the analysis of TMOs’ intra- and inter-organizational configurations, two patterns of organizational configuration – tightly- and loosely-coupled networks – emerge inductively from the data, and we highlight the dynamic nature of TMO configuration. This paper offers guidance to practitioners on designing and structuring TMOs and dealing with intra- and inter-organizational relations.@en

Embracing disruptive thinking toward ecosystem-level integration has become an urgent need for the construction industry and its fragmented building process. The application of Building Information Modelling (BIM) combined with Design for Manufacture and Assembly (DfMA) could allow the move from traditional to digital construction. Despite its advantages, however, most existing approaches to DfMA are project-based, i.e. DfMA strategies are conducted in a single project specifically to optimize one-off design. Significant challenges exist for the strategical establishment of a platform approach. To achieve successfully anchoring platforming strategies, a platform for BIM-enabled DfMA is proposed to accelerate platformisation across national and programme levels beyond the scope of single project, i.e. DfMA strategies are generated for an overall consideration of a series of different projects. The concept of product platform from the manufacturing industry is introduced and then a new BIM-enabled DfMA implementation framework and roles are proposed.@en

Integrating building information to support decision-making has been a key challenge in the Architecture, Engineering, and Construction (AEC) industry. The synergy of Building Information Modelling (BIM) and Multi-Criteria Decision Making (MCDM) is expected to improve information integration and decision-making. The aim of this paper is to identify strategies to improve the synergy between MCDM and BIM. From the earliest literature (2009) to the present, this study examines 45 articles combining MCDM with BIM. We find that the five major application domains are sustainability, retrofit, supplier selection, safety, and constructability. Five established strategies for improving the synergy between MCDM and BIM were discussed and can be used as a benchmark for evaluating the application of decision techniques in practice. This study points out gaps of combining MCDM and BIM in the current literature. It also sheds new light into combining MCDM with BIM for practitioners, as to promote integrated decision-making.

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Design for Manufacture and Assembly (DfMA) is an emerging concept introduced from the manufacturing sector to transform the construction industry and accelerating “off-site” capabilities. Enhancing the sustainability of DfMA is challenging and requires accounting for various environmental and managerial impacts on the process of manufacture and assembly, especially for the parametric buildings with irregular shapes and unstandardised components. It is essential to compare and make decisions among design alternatives for the best-fit sustainability in the DfMA process. However, there is presently a gap in the DfMA field. This paper proposed a novel BIM-enabled Multi-Criteria Decision Making (MCDM) method for the sustainability assessment of parametric façade design. An under-construction parametric building was used to test and illustrate the method. A parametric façade was selected to demonstrate the application of DfMA to enable mass “off-site” customisation. This is a labour-intensive assembly process, which could significantly benefit from the implementation of such a method. Data collection involves archival data and semi-structured interviews. An integrated fuzzy AHP-TOPSIS was used to analysis the data. This research sheds new lights on DfMA sustainability and its decision support systems. Unlike the usual attention to the construction sustainability of on-site construction, the method involves consideration of both manufacture and assembly stages. It provides practitioners with a decision-making method to select the most sustainable façade alternative available for the parametric design. The findings carry implications for parametric façade design and show the deployment of mass customised unstandardised components. This research opens up new avenues for sustainable DfMA development.

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Supply chain literature has emphasised the importance of data analytics capability in driving supply chain outcomes. Additionally, along with knowledge and professional judgement, providing data-driven analyses has become a critical component of professional service operations. However, there remains little understanding of how organisations build data analytics capability to reduce supply network uncertainty. A single case study of a professional service firm revealed analytics capability to be a combination of three capabilities, each with its distinct micro-foundations. We argue that the development of analytics capability requires the interaction of individual abilities and knowledge-bases with social and technical inter-organisational processes and structures.@en

Rapid deployment of modular hospital facilities has become an essential action in the COVID-19 response. Design for manufacture and assembly (DfMA) has played a significant role, with governments commissioning emergency hospital projects. Due to the conflict between some DfMA strategies/guidelines, their integration requires further thorough investigation. This study aims to explore the integrated approaches to DfMA. A three-step method, including a focus group, 18 designer interviews, and archival study, formed the basis and validation of the case. Finally, the study identified 31 DfMA measures and revealed three organizational (concurrence, integration, and collaboration) and five design attributes that correspond with integration strategies for DfMA. Critical to the integrated approaches to DfMA is breaking the mirroring trap. This study contributes to the theory development of DfMA in terms of systems integration. Future practitioners can take the example by the case to adapt the project organizational structure to the building production.

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Design for Manufacture and Assembly (DfMA) has been introduced into the construction industry to enhance production efficiency. DfMA is a design approach and evaluation system for improving manufacturability and assemblability. This paper outlines the past and ongoing Artificial Intelligence (AI) development in manufacturing-oriented DfMA, and provides a literature review of the concept and the use of DfMA in the construction. The applications, challenges and barriers of design optimization through DfMA and BIM-enabled DfMA are summarized. This desk study shows that studies related to construction-oriented DfMA are still in infancy. At present, articles about DfMA are focused on optimizing design and engineering for manufacturability and assemblability, but rarely describe its digital enablement. This study makes up for the lack of literature review in the evaluation of DfMA with concluding a preliminary application framework, and proposes a future-oriented study and new direction for BIM-enabled DfMA.

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