AN OVERVIEW OF CONFIGURATORS FOR INDUSTRIALIZED CONSTRUCTION: TYPOLOGIES, CUSTOMER REQUIREMENTS, AND TECHNICAL APPROACHES

Abstract

To improve productivity, the construction industry is increasingly adopting methods of industrialized construction. A key strategy to support industrialized construction is to leverage an adaptable product development platform, i.e. a configurator. Although many benefits of configurators (e.g. mass customization) have been witnessed in the manufacturing industry, the application of configurators in construction is limited and immature. This paper reviews eleven configurators in academic research and four configurators in industry practice. First, using a comparative analysis, the authors generalize three strategic typologies of configurators developed and implemented for industrialized construction. Second, stakeholder requirements are identified for each typology. Finally, the technical approaches, including related methods and theories, are reviewed using a framework of three-tier architecture decomposition. The findings contribute to practice by allowing AEC stakeholders to understand strategic typologies and customer requirements for configurators. This can assist in guiding the future development of mass-customized configurators.