Factory thinking - industrialising the construction process
The Farmer Report calls for an increase in the Pre-Manufactured Value (PMV) within construction projects as a way to drive productivity and overcome skills shortages onsite. Fundamentally we need to harness the benefits of building with a controlled environment using a repeatable process that is subject to continual improvement.
If that sounds familiar, it’s what engineering and automotive industries have been practising for years and has led to significant improvements in productivity, whilst construction has seen no increases over the last 25 years.
However, understanding where to start is really important. Our training sets out an offsite adoption hierarchy that enables organisations to consider what level of offsite is right for their organisation, their clients and the projects on which you work.
It’s not just as simple as saying ‘we need to use offsite’. Having made the decision to move offsite, we need to be more than a construction site in a shed. We need to adopt best in class manufacturing processes to unlock the benefits of offsite.
From the manufacturers perspective, an efficient process will reduce defects, rejects, scrap and decrease manufacturing time. From a client’s perspective, offsite components ensure the delivery of a repeatable, consistent quality product on time to the end user.
5 key areas of learning for manufacturers
The School focuses on providing learning resources for manufacturers, not construction trades. We provide advice on industrialisation, control and the improvement of your production processes. The School looks at how manufacturing processes can be implemented in five elements;
- Good manufacturing practices
- Process controls
- Standard work
- Workplace organisation
- Standard management and performance
It should be noted that there is a lot of overlap in the skills and techniques that could be utilised onsite as well. The key difference is that onsite process is project rather than production focused. You can find out more about the implications for onsite trades in our onsite processes section.
Biodiversity and Ecology
Introduction to Biodiversity – Lunch ‘n’ Learn
Event or Workshop
Business Ethics
Welsh Govt – Guide to Tackling Blacklisting
Document/Presentation
30 minutes
Management Capabilities
Offsite Systems Fundamentals
Video
“A manufactured approach is typified by ‘continual improvement’ - the components are improved or expanded over time by incorporating lessons learnt and innovations in materials science and manufacturing processes.”Jaimie Johnson, Architecture Board Director & Head of Global Systems, Bryden Wood
Waste and Resource Efficiency
Circular Economy (MWH Treatment) – workshop
Event or Workshop
Offsite Manufacture
Offsite Process: a Case Study
Case Study
Balfour Beatty Supply Chain Workshop
Event or Workshop
DfMA is about embedding efficiency throughout a product’s life-cycle, including…
Moving to an offsite approach has significant impacts on offsite…
The onsite assembly process is the management and culmination of…
Implementation of decisions taken at the design stage through the…
Offsite Assessment