A PROPOSAL FOR THE ADOPTION OF ADVANCED INFORMATION TECHNOLOGIES IN THE PREFABRICATED METAL BUILDINGS INDUSTRY
Submitted to:
Prof. Charles Eastman and Dr. Rafael Sacks
College of Architecture
Georgia Institute of Technology
COA 8903
Strategies for IT Adoption in the Building Industry
Fall 2002
Written by:
Jiho Yoo
December 05, 2002
TABLE OF CONTENTS
I. Introduction 2
II. Existing Business and Environment 3
III. Available and Suitable Information Technologies 9
IV. A Framework Target Plan 13
V. Assess the Expected Cost of Achieving the Plan and Benefits 17
VI. Analysis of the Readiness for Implementation of Target Plan 18
VII. Conclusion 18
VIII. Bibliography 20
IX. Appendix 22
I. Introduction
The purpose of this research is to take account of a feasible business and technological adoption of information integration technologies into the building industry.
Further speaking specifically, the report is going to give a detailed proposal for adoption of advanced information technologies, especially, in the prefabricated metal buildings sector of the building construction industry.
To make the final goal of the research, the adoption of a feasible and business IT to the prefabricated metal buildings industry, the report discusses the existing business environment and processes in the prefabricated metal buildings sector. Then, the report figures out available and suitable information a technology, sets up a framework target plan including assessment of potential benefits, assesses the expected costs of achieving the plan, and analyzes the readiness of the prefabricated metal buildings sector for implementation of the framework plan.
II. Existing Business Environment
At first in this part, what I am going to take into account to assess business environment is the category of this industry. Even though this industry, like precast concrete industry, looks like being involved in the construction industry section, in fact, is now categorized in the manufacturing industry section in terms of the product characteristic that final outputs are finished goods according to data from the 1997 Economic Census, which are published, once every five years, primarily on the basis of the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS), unlike earlier censuses according to the Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) system.
Also, I am going to analyze the economic improvement possibility of this industry sector, and the market share with not only the construction industry section but also the manufacturing industry section, and then finishing the part with taking a look about the current high process model of this industry.
What is the prefabricated metal buildings industry?[1]
The prefabricated metal buildings industry is composed of firms that fabricate the components of complete low-rise nonresidential building systems such as office buildings, retail stores, fast-food restaurants, warehouses, recreational facilities, manufacturing facilities, schools, churches, storage buildings, and agricultural buildings.
An economic review
Prefabricated metal buildings (in SIC) are particularly popular as nonresidential structures of less than 150,000 square feet, especially for commercial properties. According to the U.S industry and trade outlook 2000, these buildings have a 65 percents share of this nonresidential market compared with about 50 percents in 1990 and 35 percents in the early 1970s.
Among the reasons for the popularity of these structures are affordability, faster completion and occupation times, and high quality. Faster construction results in a quicker return on investment for the owner. Factory fabrication of components for these structures usually offers easier quality control and reduces the weather and seasonality factor.
According to U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census, due to the popularity of this kind of building, consumption of prefabricated metal buildings grew about 2 percent in 1999. Average annual consumption through the year 2000 is also expected to increase approximately 2 percent. The value of product shipments for these buildings increased about 1.3 percent in constant dollars in 1999 (see Table I-1 below), with 1.3 to 2.0 percent annual average growth forecast for the year 2000. Despite the forecast for no growth in the commercial building sector, shipments of prefabricated metal buildings will increase because prefabricated buildings capture slightly more market share in the commercial structure and manufacturing facility construction sectors than they did in the past.
Value / 1992 / 1998(Estimate) / 1999
(Estimate) / 2000
(Forecast) / Percent Change
98-99 / 99-00
Product shipment / 2,579 / 3,147 / 3,198 / 3,253 / 1.3 / 2.0
Imports / 7.7 / 58.0 / 65.0 / 70.0 / 12.1 / 7.7
Exports / 143 / 201 / 190 / 210 / -5.5 / 10.5
Table 1
Prefabricated Metal Buildings (SIC) Trends and Forecasts (Millions of dollars)[2]
Exports of these buildings dropped to $ 190 million in 1999, down from $ 201 million in 1998. However, exports were up from $ 143 million in 1992 and are forecast to remain steady through 2000. Although the value of exports is substantial, they represent only about 5 percent of domestic output. The U.S. industry is considered a leader in the design and production of these units and has a reputation for quality and service. Among the major foreign markets, are Canada, Syria, Egypt, Mexico, and China (see Table 2 below).
Exports / ImportsTop Five Countries / Value / Share (%) / Top Five Countries / Value / Share (%)
Canada / 62 / 31 / Canada / 50 / 87
Syria / 12 / 6 / United Kingdom / 2 / 4
Egypt / 10 / 5 / Taiwan / 1 / 2
Mexico / 10 / 5 / Germany / 1 / 1
China / 8 / 4 / Belgium / 1 / 1
Table 2
U.S. Trade Patterns in Prefabricated Metal Buildings in 1998
(Millions of dollars; percent)[3]
According to the 1997 Economic Census, the total number of establishments in the prefabricated metal buildings & components is 603 and the number of employees is 25,967. Even though there are establishments with less 20 employees are over a half among the total 603 establishments by the number of 394, almost all of the value added by manufacture is included in establishments with more 20 employees, especially with more 100 employees.
Establishments Number / Employees Number / Employees Payroll($1,000) / Add Value($1,000)
Establishments with 1 to 4 employees / 196 / 407 / 9,928 / 21,151
Establishments with 5 to 19 / 168 / 1,672 / 41,945 / 93,276
Establishments with 20 to 99 / 178 / 7,995 / 233,672 / 545,984
Establishments with 100 to 999 / 61 / 15,893 / 489,579 / 1,107,416
Total / 603 / 25,967 / 775,124 / 1,767,827
Table 3
Statistics by Employment Size: 1997[4]
In the 1997 Economic census, manufacturing is defined as the mechanical, physical, or chemical transformation of materials or substances into new products. So the prefabricated metal buildings & components sector is included into the manufacturing like what I said above. We can easily take a look about the volume share of the market with not only the construction industry section but also the manufacturing industry section in Table 4 below.
Establishments Number / Employees Number / Employees Payroll($1,000) / Add Value($1,000)
Prefabricated Metal Building & Component / 603 / 25,967 / 775,124 / 1,767,827
Manufacturing
(Share with it) / 362,829 / 16,805,127 / 569,808,845 / 1,825,688,027
(0.1%)
Construction
(Share with it) / 657,051 / 5,690,820 / 174,959,732 / 385,613,555
(0.46%)
Table 4
The Market Share with the Construction and Manufacture Industry[5]
Who is involved?[6]
The prefabricated metal buildings often are sold through manufacturer representatives that act as builder-dealers. Most of those dealers are independent and provide the staff for engineering and erecting the buildings. In other words, the prefabricated metal buildings establishments can serve the consumers directly as a design-build team. However, these companies can be involved in the manufacturing process or design only or can be the subcontractors and materials suppliers according to the volume of the company. So, the prefabricated metal buildings companies can be consist of these following parts, or each part can be the company itself.
The people understanding of what goes on in a construction project: The owner
Design team: Architects
Manufacturing and erection: Engineers
The subcontractors and materials suppliers
Current a high-level process model
The overall process of prefabricated metal buildings can be categorized into design, fabrication & assembly, and delivery & erection part. These overall activities are shown in the current high-level process model (Figure 1). Depending on whether there is need of architecture or not, the process model can be simple or complicated, so existence and nonexistence of architect design might be a criterion to decide the characteristic and the volume of project. Thus, classification to simple or complicate project should be taken into account before making the target plan of the IT adoption in the sector.
Figure 1
A High Level Process Model of the Prefabricated Metal Buildings
III. Available and Suitable Information Technologies
As I addressed in the first chapter, the prefabricated metal buildings industry can be categorized into the manufacturing industry section because of its not the construction characteristics but the conspicuous manufacturing characteristics. So, adoption of information technologies has been already developed and used in the drawing and manufacturing processes considerably like any other manufacturing industries more or less according to the volume of the company. However, I am going to examine the overall process of prefabricated metal buildings which can be categorized into design, fabrication & assembly, and delivery & erection part like what I mentioned above, and take a look about the information technologies suitable for each section.
A list of technologies being used
Following several technologies in each process are now being developed and already developed within the manufacturers and software developers.
Planning and Scheduling
In the prefabricated metal buildings fragment sector, fabrication sector or delivery & erection sector will be suitable for using planning and scheduling software. However, actually, the planning software seems to be hardly used in the simple buildings as well as complicated buildings. I barely found information about this part during the research. Schedule management software (currently Microsoft Project) can be the one used for this part.
Design: 2-D drawing, 3-D modeling
Design part not only has various possibilities to be adopted by advanced IT, but also has been already adopted considerably like any other building industry sectors.
PresentationPlus 3D and Pannel Plus[7]
PresentationPlus 3D lets you show your clients the building you are bidding in color and in three dimensions. Place windows, doors, overhangs, specify the exterior finish colors and panel ribbing. You can modify the building - from size to location of openings - and show your clients the results instantly.
PanelPlus helps designers accurately and efficiently determine the diaphragm shear strength and stiffness of steel panels. It also analyzes fastener stiffness and strength. The user enters fastener type and location, panel configuration, diaphragm shape, and the location of supports. The output includes a graphical display of panel and diaphragm dimensions as well as interior and end connectors. PanelPlus also features a properties and allowable module that lets users optimize panel profiles before purchasing roll-forming equipment. The program supports a variety of panel profiles, including ribbed, architectural, and corrugated.
“VIEW v 5.10” (integrated truss design software)[8]
The new VIEW v5.10 improvements are: A metric option for cold-formed steel framing dimensions; Automated piggybacks of trusses based on height or setback; Automated input for complicated mid-chord and top-chord bearing conditions; DXF files for trusses; ASCE7-98 wind analysis; Allowances for overhang reinforcement and for box-level returns. VIEW v5.10 also includes new AEPrint software, which allows Alpine's engineering department to return approved engineering drawings to customers electronically.
Fabrication and Assembly
This part might have synergy effect when it is adapted by IT connected to the design part.
The Computer Numerical Control (CNC) and computer aided manufacturing (CAM)[9]
There are several advantages of using CNC and CAM. The process can be very flexible so as to be able to produce various configurations of parts. The lead time for tooling can be reduced or non-existent and the quantities which can be economically manufactured can be in the thousands depending on the complexity of the part. I am going to show how CNC works in the following paragraph.
Tooling is mounted on a turret mounted on the upper part of the press. The turret travels on lead screws, which travel in the X and Y direction and are computer controlled. Alternatively, the work-piece can travel on the lead screws, and move relative to the fixed turret. The tooling is located over the sheet metal, the punch is activated, and performs the operation, and the turret is indexed to the next location of the work-piece. After the first stage of tooling is deployed over the entire work-piece, the second stage is rotated into place and the whole process is repeated. This entire process is repeated until all the tooling positions of the turret are deployed.
Robotics applications[10]
Robots can improve quality and productivity by reducing process variance and lowering total production costs. In many applications, robots free humans from hazardous, noisy, strenuous tasks, or they operate where humans simply cannot. In manufacturing, robots can be a core technology of flexible manufacturing or computer-integrated manufacturing. Manufacturing companies will continue to benefit from evolutionary developments in robotic systems and related technologies. Thus, robotic application in the fabrication process of prefabricated metal buildings can be suitable.
Assessment of the current technology application
To adopt the information technology to the prefabricated metal buildings sector, I think, the most important thing which should be taken into account is the volume of the company. However, there is QUESTmb software, the completely integrated metal building software package including design, pricing, detailing, bill of materials, erection and fabrication drawings which can be suitable for adoption of IT to the companies for simple buildings which do not need architect design. I will talk about it later on. Of course, as for the small scaled companies, the adoption of these wholly integrated systems might be actually impossible, but it is also true that the adoption of fragmented IT seems to be also hard and further more meaningless, because of its inefficiency, if any, due to the lack of mutual linkage between the processes, as for those small scaled companies. For example, the adoption of CNC fabrication in the manufacturing process might be inefficient without CAM or CAD system.