Despite recent dramatic increases in housing production and homeownership, the homebuilding industry still lags behind other industries in widespread technological innovation and adoption. Other manufacturing industries have adopted broad organizational strategies to reduce production costs and to improve productivity and product quality. The homebuilding industry needs a directed change in its housing delivery system to reap similar benefits and to share those benefits with homeowners. Industrializing the Residential Construction Site, released by HUD's Office of Policy Development and Research, examines the means and methods available for integrating and industrializing housing construction sites and the housing industry. It includes strategies for all scales of builders: small volume, medium volume, high volume, and production. The report also outlines preliminary strategies for bringing integration and industrialization to the homebuilding industry. Because systems integration is essential to industrialization, organizational strategies, such as integration of information, physical systems, performance, production, and operations, that can contribute to the systematic development of the homebuilding industry's technological capacity are discussed in detail. Information integration is identified as key to successful integration of all other systems. The publication discusses specific tools for industrialization that have been useful to other industries, including:
Once developed, these strategies and tools will begin transforming the homebuilding industry from its current fragmented, craft-based approach to an industrialized, integrated, and productive industry. Implementation of these plans will provide the industry with a platform from which to develop new materials and processes for housing construction. Industrializing the Residential Construction Site is available for $5 from HUD USER. Use the order form. |
