Vision and Research Agenda for Modular Homebuilding
Executive Summary:
In February 2004 the National Science Foundation (NSF) sponsored a workshop to define a national housing research agenda. The three-day workshop was hosted by the University of Central Florida and the HCL research team in Orlando. Workshop participants included 39 faculty members representing 26 universities, a researcher from the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) Research Center, and a researcher from State Farm Insurance Companies. Representatives from NSF and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) also attended. Most faculty participants were invited as representatives of their NSF-Partnership for Advancing Technology in Housing (PATH) research teams. These participants were supplemented with a limited number of additional faculty/researchers from the universities represented in National Consortium of Housing Research Centers (NCHRC). The workshop was organized into five topical areas: 1) construction management and production, 2) structural design and materials, 3) building enclosures, energy and indoor air quality (IAQ), 4) housing technology, community and the economy, and 5) systems interactions and “whole house” approach.One paper delivered at the workshop addressed a future vision for modular homebuilding and a research agenda that would lead us there. The vision follows:
The factory will produce high quality custom homes for all homebuyers, from entry level through luxury. The factory will provide a productive and safe environment that will offer excellent value and timely delivery for the homebuyer, a safe and rewarding career for employees and a profitable investment for owners. Ample capacity will be provided to accommodate forecasted short-term growth. Factory design will be modular and flexible to facilitate expansion to accommodate more rapid or longer-term growth. Materials will arrive in the factory just in time to support production and be staged close to the point of use on the line. Mechanization/automation will be provided for both material handling and manufacturing processes when justified to eliminate injuries, minimize excessive physical exertion, assure capacity and boost productivity. Production documentation will be timely and accurate. Employees will know the status of any order, recognize the restrictions at any workstation or work group, and be able to react so that schedule and customer demands can be profitably met. As a result, rework will be minimal and production flow will be smooth and synchronous with demand. Employee work groups will be actively engaged in continuous improvement and will share in the resulting profits.
The research agenda proposed to attain this vision is described in the following paper.
Technical Reports & Papers:
Mullens, M. “Production flow and shop floor control: Structuring the modular factory for custom homebuilding” Proceedings of the NSF Housing Research Agenda Workshop, Feb. 12-14, 2004, Orlando, FL. Eds. Syal, M., Mullens, M. and Hastak, M. Vol 2.[download paper]
