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The residential construction industry has a major share in Canada's GDP. In spite of huge spending and technical advances in the residential construction sector, the current permit approval process still adheres to traditional manual permit approval process. Consequently, this has contributed to project delays and increased monetary costs to the stakeholders associated with the process. The research presented in this paper seeks to explore key issues related to the current housing development permit approval process.

This paper describes a proposed methodology for the automation of the residential construction development permit approval process. The proposed methodology has been incorporated into a computer system that integrates a knowledge‐based expert system (KBES), database management system (DBMS), and computer‐aided design (CAD). Various concepts related to the database structures, system architecture, process flow and user interfaces are introduced and described in the context of the development permit approval process.

This paper presents a knowledge‐based prototype for the development permit approval process that can be customized as per the needs of various cities. A case study is also presented in order to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method and to illustrate the implementation of the research.

The prototype is application‐independent and may be implemented anywhere in the AutoCAD environment. The research paves the way for the setting of drafting standards for the residential industry.

Prototype provides significant gains in productivity and accuracy over the current practices by minimizing the redundancies involved in the development permit approval process.

The pupose of this study is to systematically review the current literature on the value stream mapping (VSM) application in the construction industry to investigate the evolution observed over time and the results obtained by adopting this tool. In addition, special attention was given to the potential of VSM in identifying loss and waste, as well as their main causes.

The study analyses papers in literature using Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses research protocol. As a result, 383 papers were initially identified, and 47 papers were selected.

It was observed that the number of studies addressing this topic has been increasing over the past decade and findings related to the evolution, application and the benefits obtained from the VSM application in context of construction were presented. Additionally, the authors found that the two most cited lean wastes were waiting and defects in the production chain. The main causes of this waste and loss were also identified in this work.

This paper contributes by presenting the applicability of VSM as a tool in the construction as found in the literature. For academics, it will be possible to clearly observe research gaps and for industry managers, to identify the main sources of waste and assess the performance of the tool’s application.

The study uses a systematic review to analyze the application of the VSM tool in the construction industry and provides guidance for future research by identifying research gaps, in addition to conducting an extensive analysis of the tool’s potential in waste identification in the studied papers and their primary causes.

The purpose of this paper is to present a new method for project tracking and control of integrated offsite and onsite activities in modular construction considering practical characteristics associated with this type of construction.

The design embraces building information modelling and integrates last planner system (LPS), linear scheduling method (LSM) and critical chain project management (CCPM) to develop tracking and control procedures for modular construction projects. The developed method accounts for constraints of resources continuity and uncertainties associated with activity duration. Features of proposed method are illustrated in a case example for tracking and control of modular projects.

Comparison between developed schedule and Monte Carlo simulation showed that baseline duration generated from simulation exceeds that produced by developed method by 12% and 10% for schedules with 50% and 90% confidence level, respectively. These percentages decrease based on interventions of members of project team in the LPS sessions. The case example results indicate that project is delayed 5% and experienced cost overrun of 2.5%.

Developed method integrated LPS, LSM and CCPM while using metrics for reliability assessment of linear schedules, namely, critical percent plan complete (PPC_cr) and buffer index (BI). PPC_cr and BI measure percentage of plan completion for critical activities and buffer consumption, respectively. The developed method provides a systematic procedure for forecasting look-ahead schedules using forecasting correction factor Δ_t and a newly developed tracking and control procedure that uses PPC_cr and BI. Quantitative cost analysis is also provided to forecast and monitor project costs to prove the robustness of proposed framework.

The purpose of this study is to present an overview of the existing knowledge on the combined application of lean, off-site and simulation (LOS) in housing delivery.

A systematic literature review approach was adopted. Based on a comprehensive search using Scopus, Web of Science and the International Group for Lean Construction databases, 66 relevant journal articles were identified and analysed.

This study found that the most significant impacts of the combined application of LOS in housing delivery are the capacity to visualise the production processes as a whole in real time, exposure and removal of non-value-adding activities from the production and faster delivery. However, the combined application of LOS is low compared to a single application of each technique in housing delivery.

The results provide relevant stakeholders and actors in the housing sector (private and public housing developers, off-site housing manufacturers and constructors, housing associations and government housing agencies, among others) with the information needed to improve the outcomes of housing delivery through the application of LOS.

This study contributes to the ongoing debate on addressing the global housing shortage by presenting an integrated overview of the existing knowledge on the impact of the nexus of LOS and providing compelling evidence for its usage in housing delivery. It also demonstrates how the combined application of LOS supports the achievement of the flow and value view in the transformation flow value model, which was not previously reported.

This paper presents a newly developed algorithm for selecting and locating mobile cranes on construction sites. The algorithm is incorporated into a computer system that integrates a selection module and three databases, dedicated respectively, for cranes, rigging equipment, and projects’ information. This paper focuses primarily on the selection module and its algorithm to support an efficient search for most suitable crane configurations and their associated lift settings. Data pertinent to crane lift configurations and settings are retrieved from the databases and processed to determine the near optimum selection of a crane configuration. The developed selection module features powerful graphics capabilities and a practical user‐friendly interface, designed to facilitate the considerations of user imposed lift and site constraints. The selection algorithm has been implemented within the crane selection module using MS‐Visual Basic programming language. A case example is presented in order to demonstrate the use of the developed selection module and to illustrate its essential features.

The purpose is two-fold: (1) to explore the interactions of robotic systems and lean construction in the context of offsite construction (OC) that were addressed in the literature published between 2008 and 2019 and (2) to identify the gaps in such interactions while discussing how addressing those gaps can benefit not only OC but the architecture, engineering and construction (AEC) industry as a whole.

First, a systematic literature review (SLR) identified journal papers addressing the interactions of automation and lean in OC. Then, the researchers focused the analysis on the under-researched subtopic of robotic systems. The focused analysis includes discussing the interactions identified in the SLR through a matrix of interactions and utilizing literature beyond the previously identified articles for future research directions on robotic systems and lean construction in OC.

The study found 35 journal papers that addressed automation and lean in the context of OC. Most of the identified literature focused on interactions of BIM and lean construction, while only nine focused on the interactions of robotic systems and lean construction. Identified literature related to robotic systems mainly addressed robots and automated equipment. Additional interactions were identified in the realm of wearable devices, unmanned aerial vehicles/automated guided vehicles and digital fabrication/computer numerical control (CNC) machines.

This is one of the first studies dedicated to exploring the interactions of robotic systems and lean construction in OC. Also, it proposes a categorization for construction automation and a matrix of interactions between construction automation and lean construction.

This research aims to propose a comparative environmental analysis of conventional and prefabricated construction techniques utilizing a building information modelling (BIM) technique.

A set of indicators are selected to assess the environmental emissions throughout the construction life cycle, based on BIM platform. An existing project involving ten apartment buildings in Shanghai is selected as a case study.

The results reveal that prefabricated construction demonstrates environment-friendly performance with some exceptions of acidification and mineral resource consumption. Environmental impacts can also be further reduced by increasing the projected area ratio and percentage of project prefabrication.

Overall, the proposed method can be used to identify relevant environmental merits and for decision-making of appropriate construction techniques in building construction projects.

Information technology in construction (ITC) has become a key topic in the last two decades, gaining wide acceptance and is being implemented in the construction research domains as a tool to assist decision makers. Defining the trends of ITC application over the years is essential to provide researchers with a background of what has been done and to shed light on what direction to take in the future application of ITC. This paper presents a holistic view of ITC applications in construction during the last ten years. It describes survey results in the application of information technology in construction, which have been published in twelve scientific journals between 1992 and 2001. This paper focuses primarily on nine ITC tools. It describes their integration, and their use in forty‐three construction applications.

The paper aims to provide a door-to-door holistic perspective on the state of a production system based on several metrics and their relationships, to utilize a combination of tools and techniques and to develop a unique model for production system assessment. The study addresses the limitations of narrow approaches by proposing a new metric as a single indicator of the production system’s overall state.

The research methodology adopted is design science research. It proposes a framework that combines value stream mapping, simulation and fuzzy logic to study the impact of different lean interventions on the overall state. An offsite construction facility was used as a case study. Data were gathered using methods such as ethnography, interviews, time and motion studies, shopfloor observations, video surveillance and database exploration.

The paper highlights how some interventions can have local improvements but lead to negative impacts on the overall system state. It emphasizes the importance of having a holistic approach to analyze and improve the true state of a production system.

The study excludes impacts of the supply chain and assumes the system to be confined within the shopfloor. Researchers are encouraged to include those variables in future studies.

The study presents a practical framework and tool that can be tailored to any production system and be used to improve its performance.

This paper proposes a unique framework and a new metric for system state assessment and improvement.

In response to increasing demand for a fully customized and individualized home environment, mass customization (MC) has been suggested as an effective strategy to fulfill the customer’s customization needs while keeping production cost-effectiveness. However, in current practice, the implementation of the MC in the industrialized housing industry has not achieved an ideal level. Little effort was devoted to customer value generation and achieving lean production in a multi-disciplinary MC environment. In this concern, a highly efficient and flexible production information system is expected to capture accurately the customer’s demand and efficiently perform work planning for encouraging customer involvement and mass efficiency production.

To gain an insight into the development of the MC production information system for the housing industry and to depict the interaction among system modules, this study used a design science research methodology for a case study of customized cabinet production information system development.

A prototype of the production information system was proposed in this paper, supported by three information technologies to facilitate the MC implementation in the millwork manufacturer. A focus group discussion method was carried out for evaluating the system feasibility and the subsequent survey analysis on the virtual reality (VR) interface experiment. The evaluation process results showed that the VR interface is an effective medium for design information communication and encourages customer involvement. Most participants believed that the proposed production information system could generally benefit the MC implementation and improve production efficiency.

This study integrated lean production principles along with building information modelling, VR and discrete-event simulation in the production information system to assist the manufacturer in effectively handling variant product information and enabling quicker reactions in response to diverse customer requirements in housing industries. The coordination among system modules and the managed information flow could be a valuable reference for future MC production system development in housing industries.