This iterative process can be shortened using BIM integration and digital twins which are inherently part of a DfMA approach..
The construction industry needs to shift its thinking towards recognising similarity and repeatability by using repeatable components to create unique systems.. Construction companies are already operating at 100% capacity or more.Businesses aren’t competing for work, they’re trying to figure out ways to deliver all the work they already have, and how to deliver it with existing supply chain capacity and widespread skills shortage..
This reality creates an openness to new approaches and will force change, but we need interoperability of data, collaboration, and repeatability to make it happen.. Our need to build will only increase as the global population continues to grow, and the amount of energy and technology infrastructure required expands as we head into the future.The best incentive for industry-level change will come from owners, who are starting to understand the enormous financial costs of delays and disrupted schedules more than ever before.And when owners make certain decisions, the supply chain will follow.. To learn more about our Design to Value approach to design and construction, sign up for our monthly newsletter here:.
http://bit.ly/BWNewsUpdatesIntroduction – what is automation in construction?.The overall landscape of the construction industry has been changing in recent years, driven by an expanding interest in areas such as Design for Manufacture and Assembly (DfMA), Modern Methods of Construction (MMC), and the use of transformative new technologies ranging from digital design tools to construction robotics and intelligent control systems.
Broadly speaking, when we refer to automation in construction, we mean the development and application of tools, methods and technologies that automate various parts of a construction project from design through to the actual construction process.
This could include creating many building options with generative design at an early stage, testing facilities or construction schedules with simulation, or on-site construction robots performing tasks which could be inefficient or unsafe for people to do.The more co-dependent elements involved, the more variables and complexity the Chip has to resolve and the wider the implications of the ways in which Chips will optimise the design.
So while an inpatient room is optimised for patient comfort and the facilitation of day to day care activities, an operating theatre has more complex variables to incorporate: medical procedures, heightened levels of infection control plus the associated surgical staff, flows of clean and dirty consumables, carefully controlled flows of air, extensive use of medical equipment and data etc..The optimal design, which we call the Reference Design, can then be largely created by combining these Chips in the most efficient way.
This Reference Design can then be built again and again as a fixed product, by clients who have control over site conditions, as per the MoJ Houseblocks..But for those who need flexibility, the Reference Design becomes far easier to configure flexibly into a physical asset when broken down into its ‘Chips’ (with more or less flexibility in how these are arranged depending on the asset type.)