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For many types of buildings, prefabricated prefinished volumetric construction (PPVC) is increasingly becoming a preferred alternative construction approach. Empirical evidence of project performance has consistently demonstrated that the ultimate success of PPVC projects is directly linked to the key decisions made at the outset of the PPVC project life cycle. However, there is limited knowledge of how to successfully manage these early stages. This research identified and evaluated the critical success factors (CSFs) required for the management of the conception, planning and design stages of the PPVC project life cycle.

A multistage methodological framework was adopted to identify and evaluate the CSFs for management of the early stages of the PPVC project life cycle. Based on a comprehensive literature review and expert review, a list of the 9 CSFs relevant to the early stages of the PPVC project life cycle was established. Drawing on an online-based international questionnaire survey with global PPVC experts, the CSFs were measured. The data set was statistically tested for reliability and analyzed using several techniques such as mean scores, relativity weightings and significance analysis.

The analysis revealed that the top 5 most influential CSFs for management of the early stages of the PPVC project life cycle include robust design specifications, accurate drawings and early design freeze; good working collaboration, effective communication and information sharing among project participants; effective stakeholder management; extensive project planning and scheduling; and early engagement of key players. The research further found correlations among the CSFs and proposed a conceptual framework for the management of the early stages of the PPVC project life cycle.

The research recognizes that data quality and reliability risks are the major drawbacks of online questionnaire surveys but the engagement of experts with substantial theoretical and hands-on experiences in PPVC projects helped to minimize these risks. Although small, the sample size was justified and compared with studies that adopted the same data collection approach but analyzed even smaller samples. However, the results should be interpreted against these limitations.

The findings suggest that effective management of the early stages of the PPVC project lifecycle requires early commitment to the PPVC approach in a project; detailed planning and assessment of the suitability of PPVC for the given project; and collaborative design with manufacturers and suppliers to address module production challenges at the detailed design stage. These findings practically instructive and may serve as management support during PPVC implementation.

This research constitutes the first exclusive attempt at identifying the CSFs for successful management of the early stages of the PPVC project life cycle. It provides a fresh and more in-depth understanding of how best to manage the early stages of the PPVC project life cycle. Thus, it contributes to the practice and praxis of the PPVC project implementation discourse.

Prefabricated prefinished volumetric construction (PPVC) projects are industrialized building systems that are co-created. Thus, effective management of the involved stakeholders is required to ensure project success. However, knowledge of how best to manage the diverse stakeholders in PPVC projects is limited. This research identified and prioritized the success factors or key result areas (KRAs) for the effective stakeholder management (SM) in PPVC projects.

A quantitative research design was implemented involving a literature review and structured questionnaire survey with international PPVC experts. The research identified and statistically analysed 12 KRAs for SM in PPVC projects.

Analysis showed that the top three KRAs for SM in PPVC projects include: effective working collaboration, communication and information sharing among participants; effective coordination of the PPVC supply chain segments; and early involvement of relevant stakeholders in the PPVC project. A factor analysis clustered the 12 KRAs into stakeholder analysis and early involvement, effective communication and information sharing and stakeholder interest integration and conflict management.

The paper identified and prioritized the KRAs required for the effective SM in PPVC projects. To practitioners, the results may serve as decision support on the key areas to focus to ensure effective SM in PPVC projects and may guide the efficient allocation of limited resources.

This research constitutes the first exclusive attempt at identifying and benchmarking the generic KRAs required for effective SM in PPVC projects and contributes to the SM body of knowledge in industrialized construction.

Prefabricated prefinished volumetric construction (PPVC) is a game-changing construction method that transforms the fragmented site-based construction of buildings into an integrated production, integration and assembly of value-added volumetric building components. Where circumstances merit, the effective implementation of PPVC leverages significant gains in time, cost, quality, productivity and sustainability performance of construction projects. As PPVC is increasingly becoming mainstream, it is imperative to identify the critical success criteria (CSC) for measuring PPVC project success. The purpose of this study is to identify, rank and benchmark the CSC for measuring PPVC project success.

This study adopted a quantitative research design where the potential CSC for PPVC projects were evaluated. A comprehensive literature and pilot expert review identified 18 CSC for measuring PPVC project success. Based on a questionnaire survey of international PPVC experts, the 18 CSC were analyzed and prioritized using mean score analysis and weighting function.

Based on mean index assessment, the top five CSC for PPVC projects were identified as adherence to project schedules, meeting project quality specification, meeting safety requirements, client and owner satisfaction and cost savings and profitability. Further analysis grouped the 18 CSC into six principal success criteria (PSC), comprising time performance, cost performance, quality performance, environmental and safety performance, stakeholder satisfaction and supply chain performance. Based on weighted analysis of the six PSCs, quality performance, time performance and environmental and safety performance obtained the highest weights.

The research results are limited by the following limitations. First, although adequate, the sample size was relatively smaller. Second, the generalized analysis overlooked the geospatial sensitivities of the CSC.

The results constitute the first exclusive quantitative ranking and prioritization of the CSC for PPVC projects. The outputs of this study will enable practitioners to reliably and accurately evaluate the performance levels of PPVC projects. A framework of the CSC for measuring the success of PPVC projects was developed.

Construction productivity issues have constantly surfaced in Singapore's construction industry. To push for productivity, the Government has implemented various initiatives to encourage industry players, particularly small and medium enterprises (SMEs), and to adopt more productive construction technologies. One of these technologies is prefabrication prefinished volumetric construction (PPVC), a concept of the design for manufacturing and assembly (DfMA) approach. This exploratory study sheds lights on PPVC adoption and its issues in Singapore in the context of the launch of the Construction Industry Transformation Map (ITM).

The methodology used here is mainly a quantitative approach in the form of a survey. A questionnaire was developed and distributed to a pool of about 100 contractors, randomly chosen as part of a stratified sample. The questionnaire survey helps gain further insights into the industry's perceptions of PPVC and its adoption.

The study succeeded in identifying and analysing a list of drivers of and barriers to the adoption of PPVC. The top three most important potential drivers were “increase efficiency,” “technological change” and “changing nature of composition of workforce”. The three most important barriers were “ineffective on-site storage,” “high up-front payment” and “transportation issues”.

This study also looked into the organizational change management theory. Various theories were considered to help understand and implement change. It is understood that it is not only important for an organization to focus on the steps of these frameworks and models when the change is initiated but also for the organization to acknowledge and be mindful of the emotions of employees and take measures to overcome their emotions as part of organizational change management.

Precast wall lifting during prefabricated building construction faces multiple non-lean problems, such as inaccurate lifting-time estimation, unreasonable resource allocation and improper process design. This study aims to identify the pathways for improving lifting performance to advance lean construction of prefabricated buildings.

This study developed a methodological framework that integrates the discrete event simulation method, the elimination, combination, rearrangement and simplification (ECRS) technique and intelligent optimization tool. Two schemes of precast wall lifting, namely, the enterprise's business as usual (BAU) and enterprise-leading (EL) schemes, were set to benchmark lifting performance. Furthermore, a best-practice (BP) scheme was modeled from the perspective of lifting activity ECRS and resource allocation for performance optimization.

A real project was selected to test the effect of the methodological framework. The results showed that compared with the EL scheme, the BP scheme reduced the total lifting time (TLT) by 6.3% and mitigated the TLT uncertainty (the gap between the maximum and minimum time values) by 20.6%. Under the BP scheme, increasing the resource inputs produces an insignificant effect in reducing TLT, i.e. increasing the number of component operators in the caulking subprocess from one to two only shortened the TLT by 3.6%, and no further time reduction was achieved as more component operators were added.

To solve non-lean problems associated with prefabricated building construction, this study provides a methodological framework that can separate a typical precast wall lifting process into fine-level activities. Besides, it also identifies the pathways (including the learning effect mitigation, labor and machinery resource adjustment and activities’ improvement) to reducing TLT and its uncertainty.

Modular integrated construction (MiC) projects are co-created by a network of organizations and players providing different roles, information and activities throughout the supply chains. Hence, a successful delivery of MiC projects can hardly be decoupled from effective supply chain management (SCM). This study investigated the critical success determinants of effective SCM in MiC projects.

Comprehensive literature research and expert review identified 20 candidate success determinants, which formed the basis for a structured questionnaire survey of experts in eighteen countries. The study computed the mean scores, normalized mean values and significance indices of success determinants for SCM in MiC projects.

The analysis revealed that design for SCM, effective communication and information sharing, organizational readiness and familiarity with MiC, seamless integration and coordination of supply chain, early involvement of critical supply chain stakeholders and extensive supply chain planning are the top five critical success determinants of effective SCM in MiC projects. The 20 success determinants are categorized into five: project strategy, bespoke competencies, process management, stakeholder management and risk management.

The study has some limitations. The smaller sample size could affect the generalizability of the results. The generalized analysis of the success determinants overlooked their sensitivities to specific contexts, industry climates and project types.

The study established a novel set of critical success determinants for SCM in MiC projects that have not been explicitly discussed in the MiC success literature and described their hypothetical dynamic linkages. It contributes to a better understanding of how best to manage the MiC project supply chain effectively.

The construction sector suffers significant challenges which are intertwined with processes and products of the traditional onsite construction approach. The quest for a lasting solution to these problems is heralding the change toward offsite construction. Amid the scaling drive, to date there are no official reports and contribution to knowledge on the drivers of offsite construction in Ghana. This study models the structural paths of the critical drivers of offsite construction in Ghana.

Data were collected through a questionnaire from 95 respondents in the Ghanaian construction industry. Exploratory factor analysis and Partial least squares structural equation modeling were employed to analyze the data.

The results revealed that industry dynamics are the governing drivers of offsite construction in Ghana. As such, factors such as the rocketing housing deficits, high cost of acquiring land permanently, high cost of cast-in-situ construction, the utilization of prefabricated shipping containers for construction and construction market demand constitute the governing drivers of offsite construction in Ghana. Similarly, concern for higher productivity is a critical driver of offsite construction in the Ghanaian construction industry. On the contrary, findings show that performance-related drivers, government policy and regulation, and technological innovation exert little influence in driving offsite construction in Ghana.

The appreciation of the drivers may help stakeholders to understand the important mechanisms underlying offsite construction in Ghana, and thereafter help them to make more informed decisions regarding its implementation.

The findings contribute some interesting dimensions to the global debate on offsite construction by discovering and adding two drivers of offsite construction peculiar to developing countries (high cost of acquiring land permanently, and the utilization of shipping containers for construction) to the literature.

Prefabricated components sustainable supplier (PCSS) selection is critical to the success of prefabricated projects. However, limited studies have addressed the uncertainty and complexities during the selection process, particularly in multi-criterion group decision-making (MCGDM) circumstances. Hence, the research aims to develop a group decision-making model using a modified fuzzy MCGDM approach for PCSS selection under uncertain situation.

The proposed study develops a framework for sorting decisions in PCSS selection by using the hesitant fuzzy technique for order preference by similarity to ideal solution (HF-TOPSIS) method. The maximum consistency (MC) model is used to calculate the weights of decision makers (DMs) based on the cardinality and sequence of decision data.

The proposed framework has been successfully applied and illustrated in the case example of CB01 contract section in Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge (HZMB) megaproject. The results show various complicated decision-making scenarios can be addressed through the proposed approach. The MC model is able to calculate the weights of DMs based on the cardinality and sequence of decision data.

The research contributes to improving accuracy and reliability decision-making processes for PCSS selection, especially under hesitant and fuzzy situations in prefabricated megaprojects.

Prefabricated products are continually entering the building construction market; yet, the decision to use prefabricated products in a construction project is based mostly on personal preferences and the evaluation of direct costs. Researchers and practitioners have debated appropriate measurement systems for evaluating the impacts of prefabricated products and for comparing them with conventional on-site construction practices. The more advanced, cost–benefit approach to evaluating prefabricated products often inspires controversy because it may generate inaccurate results when converting non-monetary effects into costs. As prefabrication may affect multiple organisations and product subsystems, the method used to decide on production methods should consider multiple direct and indirect impacts, including nonmonetary ones. Thus, this study aims to develop a multi-criteria method to evaluate both the monetary and non-monetary impacts of prefabrication solutions to facilitate decision-making on whether to use prefabricated products.

Drawing upon a literature review, this research suggests a multi-criteria method that combines the choosing-by-advantage approach with a cost–benefit analysis. The method was presented for validation in focus group discussions and tested in a case involving a prefabricated bathroom.

The analysis indicates that the method helps a project’s stakeholders communicate about the relative merits of prefabrication and conventional construction while facilitating the final decision of whether to use prefabrication.

This research contributes a method of evaluating the monetary and non-monetary impacts of prefabricated products. The research underlines the need to evaluate the diverse benefits and sacrifices that stakeholder face when considering production methods in construction.

Prefabricated construction technology enables relatively faster and easier construction of building structures at a lower project cost, providing improved quality control with minimal material waste. Despite the advantages of prefabricated construction systems, they are not extensively used in Turkey because of specific yet largely undefined challenges. Therefore, the purpose of this study aims to determine the factors currently affecting the extensive use of prefabricated construction systems in Turkey.

The reasons for such systems not being used extensively in Turkey were examined using responses to a questionnaire distributed amongst architects working at design firms, prefabricated-building manufacturers and contractors. The obtained survey data were statistically analysed using the SPSS 22 and LISREL 8.7 software to rank the severity of the identified challenges and determine the most critical factors.

Eight critical factors groups affecting the use of prefabricated construction systems and their associated factors were identified according the responses provided by the participants. Potential solutions and recommendations were proposed based on these factor groups that are expected facilitate the implementation of prefabricated construction systems in Turkey.

Little previous research has provided insight into the specific factors limiting the use of prefabricated construction systems. This study accordingly approaches the subject considering all phases of prefabricated construction systems and presents a structural model of the factors obtained by a confirmatory factor analysis for application to expand the use of prefabricated construction systems.