Reengineering Construction Processes in the Era of Construction 4.0: A Lean-Based Framework

Abstract

Industries around the world continue to be reshaped, and the construction industry is no exception. Being one of the oldest industries, construction did indeed undergo major transformations over the years. However, for the past few decades, traditional businessas-usual in construction has reached a stagnation point, adding pressure on organizations to rethink their current processes. Two major transformations changed and continue to change the landscape of the construction industry: Lean Construction and Construction 4.0. While Lean has taken a hold of construction, Construction 4.0, a counterpart of Industry 4.0, is a growing transformation that leverages the power of technology. While the importance of Construction 4.0 has been highlighted, the "how" component of achieving a Construction 4.0 state has not been yet discussed. A process reengineering methodology is needed to assist construction companies in adopting technologies, especially since the existing construction processes have been mostly designed before current technologies became available. Therefore, this paper proposes a holistic conceptual framework to reengineer construction processes in the Construction 4.0 era. The proposed Construction 4.0 Process Reengineering (CPR4.0) framework, which embodies the Futures Triangle methodology, is inspired by Kurt Lewin Change Management Model, and consists of three phases that build on existing reengineering methodologies, people-process-technology methodology, and Lean principles.

Building-as-a-Service: Theoretical Foundations and Conceptual Framework

“…Here, however, many definitions and interpretations of terms exist, such as clear distinctions between a digital twin and the cyber-physical systems of the automotive industry, which are essential [61]. The focus of digital twins must not be on optimizing existing processes but on considering the need for new processes due to digital possibilities [62]. In this context, it is helpful to consider the several types of fragmentation in the project life cycle.…”

The Need for a Human Centric Approach in C4.0 Technologies

“…If only monetary metrics are used to assess the implementation of a technology (productivity, profit, cost, time, etc..), then this would be similar to the attempt to optimize the parts of a system rather than the whole. Hatoum et al (2021) proposed a framework to assist companies in reengineering their processes with construction 4.0 technologies. The framework integrates Lean Construction and Construction 4.0 transformations.…”

Design, Development, and Validation of an Augmented Reality-Enabled Production Strategy Process

“…The authors added that AR is among the technology trends that will provide construction designers, planners, and practitioners with a new environment that will take the human-to-system interactions into unprecedented levels of data integration and people useability. Moreover, Bou Hatoum et al (2021) noted that existing processes need to be re-engineered in order to integrated Construction 4.0 technologies. The authors proposed a Lean-based Construction 4.0 process reengineering framework to assist construction companies in adopting Construction 4.0 technologies and re-engineering their processes.…”