Design for manufacture and assembly (DfMA) in construction: the old and the new

Abstract

Design for manufacture and assembly (DfMA) has become a buzzword amid the global resurgence of prefabrication and construction industrialization. Some argued that DfMA is hardly new, as there are concepts such as buildability, lean construction, value management, and integrated project delivery in place already. Others believe that DfMA is a new direction to future construction. This paper aims to review the development of DfMA in manufacturing and its status quo in construction, and clarify its similarities and differences to other concepts.A multi-step research method is adopted in this study: First, an analytical framework is generated; Secondly, a literature review is conducted on DfMA in general, and DfMA-like concepts in the AEC industry; The third step is to compare DfMA with related concepts. This study reveals that DfMA as a philosophy is hardly new in construction, and the empirical implementation of many DfMA guidelines has begun in the AEC industry. The findings suggested that DfMA is a new and mixed 'cocktail' of opportunities and challenges to improve construction productivity with the advancement of construction materials, production and assembly technologies, and ever-strengthened logistics and supply chain management.This study sheds light on three research directions: DfMA implementation and guidance strategies, DfMA frameworks and blueprints, and applications in cast in-situ or intermediate prefabrication construction. Our research findings provide a synopsis of DfMA research and development in construction. This paper can also serve as a point of departure for future theoretical and empirical explorations.

How Lack of Knowledge and Tools Hinders the Eco-Design of Buildings—A Systematic Review

“…The identified benefits are all of a qualitative nature, as there is a limited amount of empirical evidence of the effects of DMA in construction [80]. Thereby, it is believed that application of DfMA can reduce waste and defects during construction, shorten construction time through increased productivity which will result in lower cost and higher quality [80,[82][83][84]. DfMA originates in the manufacturing industry and has a long history of use therein [82,83].…”

“…DfMA originates in the manufacturing industry and has a long history of use therein [82,83]. This strategy is still in its infancy because the features of the building sector are different from those of manufacturing industry and the adaptation of manufacturing industry is lacking [83,84]. Furthermore, the limited number of examples in literature gives the impression that DfMA serves prefabrication only [84].…”

“…This strategy is still in its infancy because the features of the building sector are different from those of manufacturing industry and the adaptation of manufacturing industry is lacking [83,84]. Furthermore, the limited number of examples in literature gives the impression that DfMA serves prefabrication only [84]. That being said, scholars argue that to enhance the benefits of DfMA it should be applied together with the right degree of prefabrication, as well as using BIM for assessing the buildability of a given design solution [82,84,85].…”

Constraints Hindering the Development of High-Rise Modular Buildings

“…In recent years, DfMA provided substantial insights into the modular construction, dealing with manufacture and assembly in the early design stage for improved quality of modules and decreased construction period [84]. Derived from manufacturing, DfMA, a combination of DfM (Design for Manufacture) and DfA (Design for Assembly), embodies an innovative design method and philosophy and has been embraced by the construction industry [84][85][86][87]. Given the consideration of the nature of industrialisation and modularisation, off-site construction, especially high-rise modular buildings embedded with completed prefabricated modules, is an ideal implementation scheme of DfMA.…”

Proposal for the Promotion of Standardization of Precast Beams in Highway Concrete Bridges

“…The design of prefabricated components or integrated modules generally requires more attention to make these components appropriate for off-site manufacturing and on-site assembly (Lu et al, 2020). In this context, the common thread among the different off-site options is that they incorporate a design approach based on the principles of Design for Manufacture and Assembly (DfMA) (UK Parliament, 2018), which is both a design philosophy and a methodology focusing on the ease of manufacture and the efficiency of assembly.…”