Annunen, P and Haapasalo, H (2023) Industrial operation model for the construction industry. International Journal of Construction Management, 23(16), pp. 2736-2745. ISSN 1562-3599
Abstract
For decades, the construction industry has been searching for avenues to improve productivity. One potential direction for improvement is industrialisation, which involves repetitive and modular products and standardised processes to achieve economies of scale. This article describes an industrial operation model (IOM) based on the literature and uses empirical studies to find the emerging elements of the IOM in the construction industry. We employed qualitative and inductive approaches to build the general IOM framework. We determined the main challenges for the IOM through semi-structured interviews with 11 companies. The current state of the analysed IOM elements was perceived as inconstant and generally weak. In any case, we were able to describe several challenges in the main areas of the IOM. In this study, six preconditions for the IOM were defined as critical: defined target markets and products, effective product portfolio management, product and process data availability, efficient operative business processes, systematic continuous improvement, and governance and owners of the main IOM elements. The IOM framework and the proposed preconditions can be used as bases for future productivity development in the construction industry.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | business model; continuous improvement; industrial operation model; lean; operative business processes |
| Index terms: | empirical study, business model, construction industry, markets, operative, portfolio management, governance, owner, continuous improvement, productivity, interview, industrialization, inductive approach |
| Subjects: | practitioner, business, data collection methods, economic analysis, research methods, performance measurement, management, economic development, industry analysis, sociology |
| Topics: | Quality Management, Research Practice, Business Strategy, Sustainability, Governance, Roles and Professions, Stakeholder Management |
| Descriptive scope: | 5 PCTEA |
N.B. Descriptive scope is a count of how many of the five facets of empirical research are indicated by the words used in title, abstract and keywords. It is not intended as a judgement on the research; merely a count of the kind of word we would expect to indicate Phenomenon, Concepts, Theoretical framing, Empirical techniques, Analytical techniques. If all five are present, then a code of “5 PCTEA” will indicate this. If you feel the coding for this record is questionable, we welcome discussion around the terms we matched or the way we categorized them. The facet you would expect may not be coded, or a facet may be coded inappropriately. This can also bear on a larger question, of which facets should be treated as defining in construction management research. Please get in touch, and we will look at it. More details here