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Article
Publication date: 6 June 2023

Nitin Pangarkar and Rohit Prabhudesai

This paper argues that when incumbent firms counter disruptive threats head-on, they may fail to develop the required new skills. This paper aims to propose an adjacent strategy…

Abstract

Purpose

This paper argues that when incumbent firms counter disruptive threats head-on, they may fail to develop the required new skills. This paper aims to propose an adjacent strategy which proved useful to Fujifilm to counter disruption of its core business of manufacturing photographic film.

Design/methodology/approach

The study uses an inductive methodology. Based on a detailed case study of Fujifilm, the study proposes two frameworks: for the conditions under which an adjacent strategy is likely to be fruitful and how firms can make the strategy work in their organizations.

Findings

The study finds that an adjacent strategy can be useful to firms under specific circumstances. Not only will the strategy help to counter decline in the core business, but it will also open up new avenues of growth. The success of the strategy requires significant efforts in aligning the leadership and the organization, however.

Practical implications

The frameworks proposed in the study can be useful to incumbent firms in many industries as they battle new disruptive business models and players.

Originality/value

The study’s key argument that incumbent firms can leverage skills from their core business is novel. The study also proposes frameworks that can help firms decide whether an adjacent strategy is appropriate for them and how they can implement it.

Details

Journal of Business Strategy, vol. 45 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0275-6668

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 31 May 2022

Ahmad Mohammad Ahmad, Shimaa Abdelkarim, Maryam Al-Nuaimi, Nancy Makhoul, Lizmol Mathew and Shaibu Garba

Globally, there is a growing proportion of disabled people as a result of different circumstances. This growth generates attention and leads to ways to integrate the affected…

Abstract

Purpose

Globally, there is a growing proportion of disabled people as a result of different circumstances. This growth generates attention and leads to ways to integrate the affected population into society. Addressing such disability and integration is particularly important at buildings level, enabling and expanding the scope of activities for people with disabilities (PWDs). The rising number of PWDs and the need to integrate them into society create a need for action to improve their living condition and integration into society. This study aims to examine the issue of accessibility for PWDs in higher education facilities in Qatar.

Design/methodology/approach

Addressing accessibility at buildings level is particularly important in higher education because it enables inclusion in training and education and increases the potential for productive engagement in society. The study aims to develop an objective tool to assess and measure accessibility in educational institutions. Five selected buildings were examined and evaluated at Qatar University based on proximity, multi-use, vertical and horizontal circulation availability. The survey respondents were randomly selected. An existing assessment method was used in surveying respondents, including those with and without disabilities.

Findings

A comparative study was conducted to explore the discrepancy between facility users with and without disability, indicating the gap in existing tools.

Originality/value

The developed tool generates the same outcome when conducted by different assessors, indicating the level of compliance and percentage met as a benefit, not a focus. It allows professionals and non-professionals with minimal experience to conduct the assessment.

Details

Journal of Facilities Management , vol. 22 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1472-5967

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 26 March 2024

Keyu Chen, Beiyu You, Yanbo Zhang and Zhengyi Chen

Prefabricated building has been widely applied in the construction industry all over the world, which can significantly reduce labor consumption and improve construction…

Abstract

Purpose

Prefabricated building has been widely applied in the construction industry all over the world, which can significantly reduce labor consumption and improve construction efficiency compared with conventional approaches. During the construction of prefabricated buildings, the overall efficiency largely depends on the lifting sequence and path of each prefabricated component. To improve the efficiency and safety of the lifting process, this study proposes a framework for automatically optimizing the lifting path of prefabricated building components using building information modeling (BIM), improved 3D-A* and a physic-informed genetic algorithm (GA).

Design/methodology/approach

Firstly, the industry foundation class (IFC) schema for prefabricated buildings is established to enrich the semantic information of BIM. After extracting corresponding component attributes from BIM, the models of typical prefabricated components and their slings are simplified. Further, the slings and elements’ rotations are considered to build a safety bounding box. Secondly, an efficient 3D-A* is proposed for element path planning by integrating both safety factors and variable step size. Finally, an efficient GA is designed to obtain the optimal lifting sequence that satisfies physical constraints.

Findings

The proposed optimization framework is validated in a physics engine with a pilot project, which enables better understanding. The results show that the framework can intuitively and automatically generate the optimal lifting path for each type of prefabricated building component. Compared with traditional algorithms, the improved path planning algorithm significantly reduces the number of nodes computed by 91.48%, resulting in a notable decrease in search time by 75.68%.

Originality/value

In this study, a prefabricated component path planning framework based on the improved A* algorithm and GA is proposed for the first time. In addition, this study proposes a safety-bounding box that considers the effects of torsion and slinging of components during lifting. The semantic information of IFC for component lifting is enriched by taking into account lifting data such as binding positions, lifting methods, lifting angles and lifting offsets.

Details

Engineering, Construction and Architectural Management, vol. ahead-of-print no. ahead-of-print
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0969-9988

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 29 March 2024

Sihao Li, Jiali Wang and Zhao Xu

The compliance checking of Building Information Modeling (BIM) models is crucial throughout the lifecycle of construction. The increasing amount and complexity of information…

Abstract

Purpose

The compliance checking of Building Information Modeling (BIM) models is crucial throughout the lifecycle of construction. The increasing amount and complexity of information carried by BIM models have made compliance checking more challenging, and manual methods are prone to errors. Therefore, this study aims to propose an integrative conceptual framework for automated compliance checking of BIM models, allowing for the identification of errors within BIM models.

Design/methodology/approach

This study first analyzed the typical building standards in the field of architecture and fire protection, and then the ontology of these elements is developed. Based on this, a building standard corpus is built, and deep learning models are trained to automatically label the building standard texts. The Neo4j is utilized for knowledge graph construction and storage, and a data extraction method based on the Dynamo is designed to obtain checking data files. After that, a matching algorithm is devised to express the logical rules of knowledge graph triples, resulting in automated compliance checking for BIM models.

Findings

Case validation results showed that this theoretical framework can achieve the automatic construction of domain knowledge graphs and automatic checking of BIM model compliance. Compared with traditional methods, this method has a higher degree of automation and portability.

Originality/value

This study introduces knowledge graphs and natural language processing technology into the field of BIM model checking and completes the automated process of constructing domain knowledge graphs and checking BIM model data. The validation of its functionality and usability through two case studies on a self-developed BIM checking platform.

Details

Engineering, Construction and Architectural Management, vol. ahead-of-print no. ahead-of-print
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0969-9988

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 26 December 2023

Hiral Patel and Gabriela Zapata-Lancaster

This paper aims to highlight a broader definition of good building performance that goes beyond the traditional emphasis on technical aspects, only adopting the lens of the social…

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to highlight a broader definition of good building performance that goes beyond the traditional emphasis on technical aspects, only adopting the lens of the social construction of technology (SCOT) in the empirical space of the workplace sector. Several building performance evaluation (BPE) methods focus on technical aspects such as energy consumption, indoor environmental conditions and compliance with building regulations and standards. Technical aspects, albeit important goals, only embed a partial component of what buildings are expected to deliver. There is growing interest in considering the organisational and experiential expectations of building performance, particularly integrating various views of performance as expected by different user groups.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper adopts an archival research method to analyse the archive of the workplace consultants DEGW, particularly focusing on their work on London’s Broadgate development in the 1980s and the 1990s.

Findings

The findings reveal how voices from a pluralistic client organisation can be addressed to articulate a broad definition of building performance that integrates different viewpoints encompassing technical, organisational and experiential expectations. In DEGW’s work, the views on building performance of various stakeholders involved in the everyday use and management of buildings are identified without imposing predetermined agendas or research notions of performance. Particular emphasis is given to understanding clients as not a homogenous entity but consisting of different interest groups, which implies multiple conceptualisations of building performance and the building itself.

Research limitations/implications

The performance expectations of a building vary between organisations and even within any organisation. Moreover, the needs of an organisation will change over time, and the BPE criteria need to be changed to ensure better alignment between organisations and the physical spaces they occupy. A critical reflection on the conceptualisation of “users” and “building” in BPE methods is required to create an integrated approach towards building performance.

Originality/value

The paper offers insights by adopting the theoretical lens of SCOT to explore an integrated approach to building performance that captures the varied needs of building users through the example of London’s Broadgate development.

Details

Journal of Corporate Real Estate , vol. 26 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1463-001X

Keywords

Open Access
Article
Publication date: 21 December 2023

Rafael Pereira Ferreira, Louriel Oliveira Vilarinho and Americo Scotti

This study aims to propose and evaluate the progress in the basic-pixel (a strategy to generate continuous trajectories that fill out the entire surface) algorithm towards…

Abstract

Purpose

This study aims to propose and evaluate the progress in the basic-pixel (a strategy to generate continuous trajectories that fill out the entire surface) algorithm towards performance gain. The objective is also to investigate the operational efficiency and effectiveness of an enhanced version compared with conventional strategies.

Design/methodology/approach

For the first objective, the proposed methodology is to apply the improvements proposed in the basic-pixel strategy, test it on three demonstrative parts and statistically evaluate the performance using the distance trajectory criterion. For the second objective, the enhanced-pixel strategy is compared with conventional strategies in terms of trajectory distance, build time and the number of arcs starts and stops (operational efficiency) and targeting the nominal geometry of a part (operational effectiveness).

Findings

The results showed that the improvements proposed to the basic-pixel strategy could generate continuous trajectories with shorter distances and comparable building times (operational efficiency). Regarding operational effectiveness, the parts built by the enhanced-pixel strategy presented lower dimensional deviation than the other strategies studied. Therefore, the enhanced-pixel strategy appears to be a good candidate for building more complex printable parts and delivering operational efficiency and effectiveness.

Originality/value

This paper presents an evolution of the basic-pixel strategy (a space-filling strategy) with the introduction of new elements in the algorithm and proves the improvement of the strategy’s performance with this. An interesting comparison is also presented in terms of operational efficiency and effectiveness between the enhanced-pixel strategy and conventional strategies.

Details

Rapid Prototyping Journal, vol. 30 no. 11
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1355-2546

Keywords

Open Access
Article
Publication date: 12 October 2023

V. Chowdary Boppana and Fahraz Ali

This paper presents an experimental investigation in establishing the relationship between FDM process parameters and tensile strength of polycarbonate (PC) samples using the…

424

Abstract

Purpose

This paper presents an experimental investigation in establishing the relationship between FDM process parameters and tensile strength of polycarbonate (PC) samples using the I-Optimal design.

Design/methodology/approach

I-optimal design methodology is used to plan the experiments by means of Minitab-17.1 software. Samples are manufactured using Stratsys FDM 400mc and tested as per ISO standards. Additionally, an artificial neural network model was developed and compared to the regression model in order to select an appropriate model for optimisation. Finally, the genetic algorithm (GA) solver is executed for improvement of tensile strength of FDM built PC components.

Findings

This study demonstrates that the selected process parameters (raster angle, raster to raster air gap, build orientation about Y axis and the number of contours) had significant effect on tensile strength with raster angle being the most influential factor. Increasing the build orientation about Y axis produced specimens with compact structures that resulted in improved fracture resistance.

Research limitations/implications

The fitted regression model has a p-value less than 0.05 which suggests that the model terms significantly represent the tensile strength of PC samples. Further, from the normal probability plot it was found that the residuals follow a straight line, thus the developed model provides adequate predictions. Furthermore, from the validation runs, a close agreement between the predicted and actual values was seen along the reference line which further supports satisfactory model predictions.

Practical implications

This study successfully investigated the effects of the selected process parameters - raster angle, raster to raster air gap, build orientation about Y axis and the number of contours - on tensile strength of PC samples utilising the I-optimal design and ANOVA. In addition, for prediction of the part strength, regression and ANN models were developed. The selected ANN model was optimised using the GA-solver for determination of optimal parameter settings.

Originality/value

The proposed ANN-GA approach is more appropriate to establish the non-linear relationship between the selected process parameters and tensile strength. Further, the proposed ANN-GA methodology can assist in manufacture of various industrial products with Nylon, polyethylene terephthalate glycol (PETG) and PET as new 3DP materials.

Details

International Journal of Industrial Engineering and Operations Management, vol. 6 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2690-6090

Keywords

Abstract

Details

Urban Resilience: Lessons on Urban Environmental Planning from Turkey
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-83549-617-6

Article
Publication date: 16 June 2022

Mina Safizadeh, Massoomeh Hedayati Marzbali, Aldrin Abdullah and Nor Zarifah Maliki

Because of the global increase of climate change effects, floods are becoming more frequent and severer, especially in urban areas of coastal cities and islands where floodplains…

Abstract

Purpose

Because of the global increase of climate change effects, floods are becoming more frequent and severer, especially in urban areas of coastal cities and islands where floodplains have turned into buildings because of rapid urbanisation, leading to a higher risk of damages. Urban heritage areas should be highly considered in the time of evacuation because of the vulnerability of streets and buildings and limitations on taking counteractions. Given these limitations, this study aims to propose a network of potential evacuation routes based on spatial configuration analysis of the heritage areas.

Design/methodology/approach

Penang Island's heritage site, namely, George Town, located on the northwest coast of Malaysia, is chosen as the case study. By using an approach of spatial configuration analysis using space syntax techniques in addition to considering the potential starting points for evacuation and flood risk map of the area, this study analysed the area's street network values for evacuation function during flood crisis time.

Findings

Potential evacuation routes were identified for flood disasters in the George Town heritage area. Furthermore, the proposed evacuation routes were evaluated in terms of time for evacuation by metric step-depth analysis of space syntax.

Originality/value

A few studies have focused on practical guidelines for evacuation routes based on spatial configuration analysis, an important yet neglected approach in this regard, especially concerning urban island areas. This study can contribute to providing strategies to reduce vulnerability and casualties in urban heritage areas.

Details

Journal of Facilities Management , vol. 22 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1472-5967

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 8 September 2022

Johnny Kwok Wai Wong, Mojtaba Maghrebi, Alireza Ahmadian Fard Fini, Mohammad Amin Alizadeh Golestani, Mahdi Ahmadnia and Michael Er

Images taken from construction site interiors often suffer from low illumination and poor natural colors, which restrict their application for high-level site management purposes…

Abstract

Purpose

Images taken from construction site interiors often suffer from low illumination and poor natural colors, which restrict their application for high-level site management purposes. The state-of-the-art low-light image enhancement method provides promising image enhancement results. However, they generally require a longer execution time to complete the enhancement. This study aims to develop a refined image enhancement approach to improve execution efficiency and performance accuracy.

Design/methodology/approach

To develop the refined illumination enhancement algorithm named enhanced illumination quality (EIQ), a quadratic expression was first added to the initial illumination map. Subsequently, an adjusted weight matrix was added to improve the smoothness of the illumination map. A coordinated descent optimization algorithm was then applied to minimize the processing time. Gamma correction was also applied to further enhance the illumination map. Finally, a frame comparing and averaging method was used to identify interior site progress.

Findings

The proposed refined approach took around 4.36–4.52 s to achieve the expected results while outperforming the current low-light image enhancement method. EIQ demonstrated a lower lightness-order error and provided higher object resolution in enhanced images. EIQ also has a higher structural similarity index and peak-signal-to-noise ratio, which indicated better image reconstruction performance.

Originality/value

The proposed approach provides an alternative to shorten the execution time, improve equalization of the illumination map and provide a better image reconstruction. The approach could be applied to low-light video enhancement tasks and other dark or poor jobsite images for object detection processes.

Details

Construction Innovation , vol. 24 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1471-4175

Keywords

1 – 10 of 66