Experience feedback in industrialised house building The impact of production strategies

Abstract: Both academia and the construction industry itself have over the years stressed a need for construction firms to collect and use experience feedback (EF) from projects. However, few studies have investigated how construction companies actually collect and use EF. In this study within the Swedish house-building industry therefore asks the following research questions: (I) How can house-builders collect experience-based knowledge?, (II) How can the house-builders use this experience-based knowledge?, and (III) How do different types of design and production strategies affect the organization of experience feedback? Based in a qualitative, multi-method research design, four studies were conducted: one survey in 2010 on experience feedback activities within large and medium-sized on-site and off-site house builders, and three single case studies between 2011 and 2015 on how experience feedback is conducted in house-building organizations with different types of pre-engineering strategies. The house-building companies used several different channels to collect EF. The on-site builders relied more on traditional channels for storing and acquiring new knowledge and experience, such as informal meetings with colleagues, sub-contractors, engineering consultants, and clients, and the use of project-dedicated servers, whereas the off-site builders had developed new, formal channels. The studies show that if the organisation is project-focused, EF is used for continuous improvement of the processes, and the EF channels are aimed at the supplying or value-adding side of the projects. The more it turns towards being product-focused, the more is EF also used in product development, with EF channels aimed at clients and market. Project-focused on-site builders strive for increased standardisation, and find repetition in basic construction methods and workmanship. Builders using DTO platforms have standardised product concepts and design processes with components and sub-assemblies, and therefore they focus their EF towardsthese platform assets. The long-term goal is to standardise their traditional construction methods to higher degree. By increasing the standardisation of products, the production process could be standardised further, adding more effective channels toward this process. The design phase then becomes a mere configuration activity, which turns the focus toward product and production process improvement. The main contribution of this thesis is the characterisation of EF mapped onto different classification systems for production strategies in construction. Future studies should focus on verifying the ideas presented here with more case studies of different production strategies.