TY  - JOUR
AB  - Purpose– The construction industry has been criticized for not keeping up with other production industries in terms of cost efficiency, innovation, and production methods. The purpose of this paper is to contribute to the knowledge about what hampers efficiency in supplying engineer‐to‐order (ETO) joinery‐products to the construction process. The objective is to identify the main contributors to inefficiency and to define areas for innovation in improving this industry.Design/methodology/approach– Case studies of the supply chain of a Swedish ETO joinery‐products supplier are carried out, and observations, semi‐structured interviews, and documents from these cases are analysed from an efficiency improvement perspective.Findings– From a lean thinking and information modelling perspective, longer‐term procurement relations and efficient communication of information are the main areas of innovation for enhancing the efficiency of supplying ETO joinery‐products. It seems to be possible to make improvements in planning and coordination, assembly information, and spatial measuring through information modelling and spatial scanning technology. This is likely to result in an increased level of prefabrication, decreased assembly time, and increased predictability of on‐site work.Originality/value– The role of supplying ETO joinery‐products is a novel research area in construction. There is a need to develop each segment of the manufacturing industry supplying construction and this paper contributes to the collective knowledge in this area. The focus is on the possibilities for innovation in the ETO joinery‐products industry and on its improved integration in the construction industry value chain in general.
VL  - 12
IS  - 4
SN  - 1471-4175
DO  - 10.1108/14714171211272225
UR  - https://doi.org/10.1108/14714171211272225
AU  - Forsman Samuel
AU  - Björngrim Niclas
AU  - Bystedt Anders
AU  - Laitila Lars
AU  - Bomark Peter
AU  - Öhman Micael
ED  - Mustafa Alshawi
ED  - Jack Goulding
PY  - 2012
Y1  - 2012/01/01
TI  - Need for innovation in supplying engineer‐to‐order joinery products to construction: A case study in Sweden
T2  - Construction Innovation
PB  - Emerald Group Publishing Limited
SP  - 464
EP  - 491
Y2  - 2024/09/21
ER  -