Liu, Y; Yao, F; Ji, Y; Tong, W; Liu, G; Li, H X and Hu, X (2022) Quality control for offsite construction: Review and future directions. Journal of Construction Engineering and Management, 148(8): 03122003, ISSN 0733-9364
Abstract
The quality of building products is vital for the safety of construction and building occupants. The application of off-site construction (OSC) has been increasing in the industry, one of the reasons being its potential for improving project quality. Yet, various quality problems have been reported, such as cracks and air pockets of prefabricated components, sleeve grouting noncompactness in key nodes, which hinders the development of the OSC sector. It is urgent to carry out quality control (QC) for OSC projects. Substantial research efforts have thus been devoted to these topics in recent decades, resulting in a certain amount of literature regarding QC for OSC. The objective of this study is to conduct a state-of-the-art review of QC for OSC projects to deeply understand its knowledge gaps and future research directions. An integrated review method was used to carry out bibliometric analysis and in-depth qualitative content analysis based on selecting targeted articles. Results show that the identified knowledge gaps include: (1) OSC lacks suitable QC rules, (2) QC means for OSC is out of date, (3) QC information technology for OSC is immature, and (4) existing limitation connotation of QC for OSC. Finally, based on the identified knowledge gaps, corresponding future research directions were suggested, including quality risk transmission control for OSC, supply chain quality management for OSC projects, BIM-based quality data management for OSC, blockchain technology and quality traceability for OSC, and performance and assessment model of QC for OSC. This research contributes to an in-depth and comprehensive understanding of QC for OSC, which offers valuable implications for the quality improvement of the OSC industry.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | literature review; off-site construction; quality control |
| Index terms: | grouting, prefabricated component, blockchain, quality control, off-site construction, quality management, quality improvement, data management, state of the art, information technology, traceability, bibliometric analysis, content analysis, literature review |
| Subjects: | quality assurance, building construction, research evaluation and metrics, data management, project delivery, supplier oversight, data analysis and analytics, construction methods, computing systems, design methods, research dissemination and communication |
| Topics: | Design Practice, Digital Applications, Quality Management, Supply Chain Management, Research Practice, Information Management, Engineering Principles, Construction Technology |
| Descriptive scope: | 3 PCA |
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