Eastman, C M and Sacks, R (2008) Relative productivity in the AEC industries in the United States for on-site and off-site activities. Journal of Construction Engineering and Management, 134(7), pp. 517-526. ISSN 0733-9364
Abstract
This paper compares the relative productivity of construction industry sectors with significant off-site fabrication with more traditional on-site sectors. The off-site sectors, such as curtainwall, structural steel, and precast concrete fabrication, consistently show higher productivity growth than on-site sectors. Furthermore, the value-added content of the off-site sectors is increasing faster than that of the on-site sectors, indicating faster productivity growth. However, the off-site sectors are not traditionally considered as part of the construction industry by the U.S. Economic Census, but rather as manufacturing. Ignoring the off-site segments of construction has led to significant underestimation of construction productivity.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | construction management; information technology; productivity; United States |
| Index terms: | information technology, United States, construction productivity, construction industry, fabrication, precast concrete, productivity |
| Subjects: | industry analysis, Geography, management, manufacturing engineering, building materials, operations management, computing systems |
| Topics: | Business Strategy, Engineering Principles, Construction Materials, Research Practice, Geographical Context, Project Management, Digital Applications |
| Descriptive scope: | 3 PCT |
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