Lessing, J; Stehn, L and Ekholm, A (2015) Industrialised house-building: Development and conceptual orientation of the field. Construction Innovation, 15(3), pp. 378-399. ISSN 1471-4175
Abstract
Purpose - This article aims to describe the development of industrialised house-building (IHB) to increase the understanding of the field. Design/methodology/approach - The study is based on an extensive literature study and a case study with three companies, studied between 2005 and 2013 which enabled an in-depth knowledge about the companies' development within IHB. Interviews, observations and document studies are the main sources of information in the case studies. Findings - IHB is a complex field, consisting of several constructs that need to be integrated and continuously developed. Development of structured technical building systems has been central to the development of IHB along with developed production methods and processes. The interest in organisational fit or adaptation to industrialisation and strategy concerning business, production and products is increasing. This implies that IHB needs to be managed strategically and not on a building project level. Practical implications - The article gives an orientation on how leading companies have structured and organised their work within industrialisation, giving valuable advice to practitioners with interest in the field. Originality/value - This article describes the development of IHB based on studies of literature and three Swedish IHB companies' development. This provides an aggregated view of the field’s emergence and unique information about the studied companies' development.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | production system,strategy,industrialisation,building system,industrialised house-building,offsite production |
| Index terms: | interview, production system, industrialized house-building, strategy, industrialization, methodology, practitioner, emergence, case study, adaptation, building system |
| Subjects: | management, manufacturing engineering, economic development, research methods, systems engineering, construction type, data collection methods, user focus, engineering systems, practitioner |
| Topics: | Design Practice, Roles and Professions, Construction Technology, Sustainability, Business Strategy, Research Practice, Engineering Principles |
| Descriptive scope: | 4 PCTE |
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