Articles:

The density debate.

“Construction Platforms for Asia: Thoughts on the DfMA Journey in Asia-Pacific”.discussed some recent developments in my region but the interest in using DfMA on construction projects to drive benefits related to cost and programme, quality, productivity, health and safety and sustainability is growing worldwide.. As DfMA grows from a niche topic into a mainstream conversation in the construction industry, more and more government and private sector stakeholders are getting involved developing strategies and finding opportunities.

However, there is a fundamental challenge hindering newcomers to DfMA and MMC – understanding what these terms actually mean.. Confusion is a barrier to change: talking about Modern Methods of Construction.The DfMA landscape is littered with acronyms, abbreviations and terminology that is often poorly defined and even more poorly understood.Terms such as DfMA, MMC, Offsite construction, Prefab, PPVC, MiC and many more are often used interchangeably resulting in great confusion not only for newcomers but also established players in the industry..

I believe the lack of clarity around nomenclature in the DfMA landscape has become a major barrier to change.A clear and universally understood definition framework would help increase stakeholder awareness and confidence in adopting innovative construction methods and could help encourage a more structured and focused conversation across the industry at large..

The minefield of different terms means there is a tendency to assume that the landscape is complicated but there really is a simple relationship between all these different elements and it starts with DfMA.. DfMA is a design approach.

The clue is in the name.Similarly, the highly visual nature of these tools can provide direct feedback to users while the simulation is running, or export data which can then be visualised in another tool (such as Tableau or Power BI).

Analysing this data can then help not only to understand how a supply chain or site might perform, but also to anticipate bottlenecks early and mitigate them.Applying the core tenets of Design to Value, a modelling strategy can be developed which connects the project brief and client aims to the performance of the final product, measuring options against appropriate KPIs to improve performance and reduce risk..

Practical applications to drive efficiency with DES and DfMA.Recently, we have applied Discrete Event Simulation (DES) in a project for the rapid DfMA construction of storage and distribution facilities, building flexible, digital models that can represent both the on-site assembly sequences and the supply chain operations for the construction of multiple sites in Europe.