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As part of the productivity movement, the Singapore government is this year (2001) legislating for “buildability”. Consequently, all building projects will need to fulfill a minimum buildable score before their development and building plans can be approved. Achievement of higher buildable scores can be attained by greater use of prefabrication technology. The Building and Construction Authority is attempting to promote the just‐in‐time (JIT) philosophy for managing precast concrete components. Components are expected to be manufactured and delivered just in time for installation and erection on site. By means of a survey, this paper examines the readiness of precasters in Singapore to adopt the JIT philosophy in producing and delivering precast concrete components to contractor‐clients.

The Just‐In‐Time (JIT) philosophy holds tremendous potentials for improving the movement of precast concrete components from the prefabrication yard to, and within, the construction site. The space constraints for storage and the traffic congestion at the worksite can then be alleviated. Savings from the efficient management of precast concrete components can be used to offset the higher costs of procurement. By means of a survey, this paper examines if main contractors are ready to adopt the JIT philosophy to receiving and installing precast concrete components on site. Observations from the survey, however, suggest that JIT/lean operations need to work hand in hand with agile operations in the supply chain to cope with schedule fluctuations.