Lending inspiration from the manufacturing industry, industrialized house-builders have adopted some of its characteristics such as high standardization of configurable products and manufacturing processes. Standardization of product and information flow within industrialized housebuilding has shown to beneficially increase offsite manufacturing efficiency. They have however not been able to transfer the increase in efficiency to onsite construction, leading to it being one of the key issues resulting in delays. For offsite manufacturing, previous research has suggested Bill of Material (BOM) as a structure to define information for in manufacturing phases. However, due to the variation in workflow between offsite manufacturing and onsite construction, the structure of a BOM for offsite manufacturing cannot be reused in onsite construction, ultimately resulting in increased data redundancy and recreation.A conceptual model of a BOM for onsite construction has been developed inspired by Bill of Materials (BOM), Work Breakdown Structure (WBS), Location Breakdown Structure (LBS), Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) and Work Instructions (WI). The conceptual model utilizes space structure LBS to link spaces with SOPs. Furthermore, it also utilizes WBS to link SOPs with WIs. The BOM for onsite construction is generated by a transformation from offsite manufacturing P-BOM. Streamlining the information flow and transformation between manufacturing and construction phases open the possibility to develop IT-solutions for industrialized house-builders. By developing existing IT-systems to reduce data redundancy, the fragmentation between offsite manufacturing and construction sites could be utilized by reusing existing data. The conceptual model supports multiple information views and allows for information filtering determined by the performed work and project.

The construction industry has seen an increase in its complexity. This has meant an increased need for time-consuming and costly quality control. Moreover, the construction industry continues to perform detection-based quality controls with little to no focus on prevention. Quality control documentation is a source of information and data that can support the development of construction processes toward prevention. However, current documentations are ambiguous and subjective, so they remain ineffectual. A case study was performed to explore the causes of the ambiguity and subjectivity of traditional quality control documentation, and to analyze the identified project-variable procedure’s transformation into standardized or even automated documentation. Evaluating the traditional quality control’s preparation, inspection, and documentation phases highlighted unique challenges requiring tailored solutions. This study identifies the challenges of inaccurate data creation and data entry, unusable documentation, and inefficient documentation. Therefore, the usefulness of data structuring and process standardization became apparent. Hence, the study explores two solutions: a digitalized quality control system (DQCS) that ensures one accurate structured data entry method, and a centralized unit that prepares the necessary data for quality control inspections, instead of the unique preparation for each project. The results show the benefits of increased accuracy, usability, and efficiency for reliable on-site inspection and documentation.

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Well detailed, informative and accurate work instructions are a necessity to mitigate delays in construction. Today, this is done through a combination of shop drawings, documents, sheets, work pre-planning meetings and onsite verbal work instructions to transfer knowledge and information between all actors. Due to the subjectivity of these methods, many incorrect assumptions and man-made errors originated from miscommunication and misinterpretation can occur. Such issues are tough to identify prior to their occurrence on construction sites, leading to construction delays. Virtual Reality (VR) technology can simulate and visualize assembly processes using Standard Operating Procedure (SOP). The visualization aims to ensure a quality communication with skilled workers and to aid their interpretation of SOPs by reducing assumptions. As a result of a more effective education, it can support the collaboration between actors. Utilization of SOPs for visualization of Work Instructions (WI) and assembly processes are important, because many process WIs on construction sites are repetitive. Modularity can increase the efficiency by supporting instancing and variation creation of construction tasks and products. Interactivity can support the continuously changing status and demands of construction sites.A method has been iteratively developed to support visualization of modular and interactive SOPs within the context of industrialized housebuilding (IHB), to increase the quality and consistency of communication at construction sites. Concurrently to development of the method, a prototype using VR technology was developed. Interactive functionalities along with VR technology make it possible to adjust SOP and WI modules to suit the demands and conditions of the construction site, including real-time. As a result, the developed method is responsive and adjustable to conditions such as weather, man-made errors, assembly re-sequencing and re-scheduling. Combining product design, SOPs, WIs and assembly process in early stages of construction has shown to help identify potential issues and aid in planning for cautious measurements. Results show that by using the developed method, skilled workers were able to identify occurring miscommunications, and misinterpretations between them, site managers and foremen as well as ensuring their understanding.