One reason is massive waste on the factory floor. Research shows how we can improve
New field study has quantified a massive amount of wasted effort in modular factories
- Better training and improved processes can eliminate much of this waste
- Waste reduction will yield big profit and productivity gains
- It’s a good time to be in modular construction. Modular awareness is growing, we’re getting a ton of buzz in the media, and potential market share is projected to grow by 200 to 400% over the next decade. That’s great news for the industry.
Of course, all this comes as no surprise to us true believers: we tell everyone who’ll listen that modular construction — like other offsite technologies — is more efficient, faster, less wasteful and safer. It also provides higher quality than on-site construction.
But while these benefits will continue to drive demand for modular, the industry won’t be able to meet that growing demand until it overcomes some challenges. One of the biggest challenges is extremely inefficient manufacturing. This acts as a brake on modular’s ability to grow.
Modular’s Problem
The reality is that the industry is still performing well below its potential.
- Many modular factories’ profit margins (like modular construction’s market share) are in the low single digits.
- Modular factories’ capacity limitations mean they’re unable to meet growing demand for housing units. This is stifling the industry’s growth.
- Factory-to-field coordination is often suboptimal, resulting in more callbacks, slower field finishing, higher costs and schedule delays.
- Although some pioneers are pushing the envelope in automation, many modular factories’ processes are essentially manual construction under a roof.
- How do we fix these problems? I recently partnered with the Modular Mobilization Coalition (MMC) to answer that question.
CLICK HERE to read the entire Daniel Small article in OFFSITE BUILDER magazine
Related Articles:
- Modular Factories Need To Talk About Innovation’s Problems
- Construction Industry Faces Yet Another Problem
- The “Capacity Bubble” Continues To Hurt The Entire Construction Industry
Gary Fleisher is Editor in Chief of Modular Home Source and the Offsite Builder. Email at modcoach@modcoach
Be sure to sign up below to receive my twice-weekly free newsletter about all things modular and offsite including reader polls, videos and even cartoons
