The rationalization of a system for the manufacture and shipment of industrialized housing

Abstract

All too often interest in the industrialization of housing is concerned with the product rather than the process. Much effort has gone into the design and manufacture of many different building systems and yet, to date, industrialization has made little impact on the building industry. The manufacturer has been unable to aggregate an adequate market to sustain sufficient production to justify the industrialization of the building process. The complete process of manufacture and distribution must be considered if a successful system is to be designed for industrialization. An understanding of the implications of -- the present constraints, the concept of the value added in manufacture, the available methods and costs of product distribution, the limitations to successful market aggregation -- is necessary to the determination of the final product design. This thesis demonstrates that by rationalizing these factors into a complete system of manufacture, distribution and construction it is possible to successfully overcome the obstacles of market aggregation to the realization of the successful industrialization of housing. The thesis concludes that working within the framework of present-day transportation capabilities and costs, the core and panel method of manufacture and construction offers the housing manufacturer an economically effective means for furnishing industrialized housing without limiting his choice of transportation method.