Predictable innovation through productization

Everyone agrees that the construction industry has been stagnant and needs to change.

Various attempts have been made, such as applying BIM, but the effects are relatively minimal. Recently, there have been movements to innovate by productizing buildings, such as modular housing and manufacturing houses.

The innovation process that has been done in the manufacturing industry can be applied to the construction industry.

The manufacturing industry is creating and using scalable and cost-effective solutions that reduce lead times, resolve labor shortages, and increase customer satisfaction through multiple innovations by applying better digitalization.

Today, we will benchmark them and see how they can be applied to the construction industry.

1. Design, manufacturing, and construction must be integrated.

When we carry out a project, we often focus on the “why,” but from the perspective of Productization, we should review and consider both “what” and “how.”

We design, engineer, manufacture, and then assemble. However, we often create without considering engineering and engineering without considering manufacturing, and many modifications occur.

2. All stakeholders participate in the Product Development Stage.

To solve these problems, I recommend Concurrent Engineering. Concurrent Engineering means that once the initial Prototype is completed, all stakeholders in the life cycle can review their areas through 3DViewer. The engineering company reviews in advance whether the design is feasible, the manufacturing company reviews whether it is practicable, and the field assembler (construction worker) reviews whether assembly is possible. This feedback is reflected in the design development.

If you apply this method, the process will flow more slowly than the Sequential process and require more initial effort. Still, since it flows more specifically, there will be?fewer modifications later on,?ultimately shortening the entire process.

By having all stakeholders participate in the development at the Product Development stage, we collect as much information as possible for the project execution stage. Communication is essential during product development; surely, CDE(Common data environment) will help in this part as well.

The following image shows the process we have traditionally implemented in the construction industry and how it has been rebuilt on a product basis.

By developing the product before starting the project, you can proceed with multi-projects without significant problems and shorten the lead time.

3, Productization of the Building

I'd like to explain the current state of our construction industry by comparing it to the human body. Each function is created individually in our body, and there are thousands of interfaces between each function. Since the construction industry is also divided into different types of work in this way, we face the problem of interfaces between types of work as we proceed with a project.

The product-based process will look like this

Imagine an arm as a product. We put all the elements we need to develop this product into it. This product has various options, such as changing the skin color, increasing muscle, or adjusting the arm's length. This can be called productization, and in the project Phase, we need to adjust how these products are positioned and assembled. This way, we can avoid many interface problems because they are most solved in the Product Development Phase.

Buildings could also do this through modularization, which means reconstructing multiple components into a single module.

So, let's take a hint from the automotive industry on modularizing buildings.

Development planning is done in the early stages of product development. This involves defining which modular system will be used, what type of building it will be, and the basic specifications.

We could break down the building into subassemblies for each use.

A Sub Assembly can be nested within another Sub Assembly or as a Final Part.

Some components will be manufactured in-house, while others can be purchased.

Now, look at the relationship between products and modules.

The composition of a product starts with each module. Each module will be intelligent and will have various variations and interface options. Modules with variations can be combined into a product.

Lastly, I will introduce the differences between the Project-Based Process and the Product-Based Process we introduced today.

We understand that Hyundai and Porsche have different brand images. Productizing in this way means that each company’s strategic direction can be different, and this can also be called branding of the system.

I look forward to when building owners shop for productized construction processes, much like we shop for cars.

Thank you for reading. Let's innovate together.