Annotated Bibliography: Fabrication vs Assembly in Construction

This annotated bibliography provides a comprehensive overview of the fabrication versus assembly debate within the context of Australian construction projects. It includes ten references, each accompanied by a concise summary highlighting key points and findings. The bibliography covers a range of topics, including the benefits of prefabricated materials, the integration of design for manufacture and assembly (DFMA), the use of robotic fabrication, and the environmental and economic considerations of different construction methods. It examines the challenges and opportunities associated with adopting modern construction techniques, such as modularization and off-site fabrication. The sources cited emphasize the importance of sustainable construction practices, cost-effectiveness, and improved project management through the adoption of advanced technologies and integrated approaches. This bibliography is a valuable resource for students and professionals seeking to understand the evolving landscape of construction and the impact of fabrication and assembly on the industry's future.

Fabrication Vs. Assembly
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Fabrication Vs. Assembly
Annotated Bibliography
Fabrication vs Assembly in Australian Construction Projects
Chowdary, B.V., Richards, M.A., and Gokool, T., 2019. An integrated approach for
sustainable product design: concurrent application of DFMA, DFE, and CAD/CAE principles
and tools. Journal of Management for Sustainable Development, 4(4), pp.259-275.
In the Caribbean regions, manufactures have been facing the challenge of high manufacturing
costs in fabricating modern construction materials as they thrive on producing eco-friendly
and sustainable modular materials. Chowdary and associates present a review on the impact of
the fabrication and assembly of the modular materials in modern construction projects has
positively impacted the state of the Sydney’s environment and has proved to be more cost-
effective in overall construction cost. This article presents an integrated approach in achieving
sustainable modern structures through the use of design for environment DFE, computer-aided
engineering CAE, DFMA, and CAD as software tools in the fabrication and assembly of such
materials.
Gao, S., Jin, R., and Lu, W., 2019. Design for manufacture and assembly in construction: a
review. Building Research & Information, pp.1-13.
The three scholars in their review of various building resources and information reached a
conclusion to their study by producing an article that summarizes the research findings. The
journal titled design for manufacture and assembly in construction provides an insight into
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Fabrication Vs. Assembly
how manufactured or fabricated items and process has been of great help in facilitating the
construction process. On the other hand, they explained the most recent evolution in building
and construction space that is the use of ready to assemble modular structures to come up with
specialized buildings. They retaliated the importance of fusing BIM parametric design with
DFMA as the best and most appropriate way of optimizing on construction processes.
Gibb, A.G., 2019. Off-site fabrication: prefabrication, pre-assembly, and modularization. John
Wiley & Sons.
Dr. Gibb, in his book pre-assembly and modularization, enumerates a couple of reasons as to
why construction processes should adopt the modern construction techniques most so the use
of prefabricated construction materials that are ready for assembling. He cites that
modularization is a perfect construction method for residential homes and medium-rise
commercial structures as they are easy to assemble hence take a shorter time in installation
compared to conventional construction processes. She concludes by highlighting the benefits
of modular construction in modern construction projects as candid mode of project
management.
Mitchell W.J. 2015, Constructing Complexity. In: Martens B., Brown A.) Computer-Aided
Architectural Design Futures Springer, Dordrecht
In this publication, Mitchell defines and promotes the assembling of fabricating parts in
construction space. She adds that in the past, buildings were just materialized drawings but
currently with more innovations and technological advancements, its high time architects and
contractors to consider the adoption of modern construction project techniques in order to
achieve perfect project management. She gives an explicit definition of construction and
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Fabrication Vs. Assembly
design context in relation to the economy, functionality, and complexity of construction
management.
Mohsenijam, A., Soleimanifar, M., and Lu, M., 2017, December. Simulation-based process
mapping for the fabrication of bridge girders. In 2017 Winter Simulation Conference
(WSC) (pp. 4522-4524).
The article published by building and construction management experts from Donadeo
Innovation Center, University of Alberta. The article gives an enhanced scope of improved
performance and construction productivity within Australian cities through assembly of
fabricated materials in structural construction. They proposed the Simplified discrete
Simulation approach (SDESA) technique in obtaining an integrated data-driven method of
fabricating and assembling the most critical components of bridge gridlers and, at the same
time enhance scheduling, and analyzing production rate. Since bridge construction requires
proper mixing of materials, conventional methods at times are not reliable in mixing to
required proportional ratio therefore SDESA technique in fabricated materials ensures that
required strength is attained.
Shen, K., Cheng, C., Li, X. and Zhang, Z., 2019. Environmental cost-benefit analysis of
prefabricated public housing in Melbourne. Sustainability in construction, 11(1), p.207
In comparison to conventional and other methods of construction, the use of fabricated
building materials is the most preferred technique due to its numerous advantages over other
methods. Shen and fellow associates in this article outline some of the advantages of using
ready to assemble fabricated materials in building constructions. Some of the highlighted
merits are eco-friendly, consistency in structural quality, cost-effective, reduced construction
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Fabrication Vs. Assembly
time, construction safety, among others. In addition the article states that the measure of
perfect modern construction management lies on how fast it is to complete the project at a
considerably lower cost.
Weinard, Y., 2019, October. Advanced Timber Construction, using digital fabrication and
robotic assemblies. In Graduates Seminar Talks.
Advanced timber construction through digital robots in fabrication is a scientific publication
published by Weinard in 2019. In this publication, Weinard brings a holistic scope of
managing construction activities that involve the assembly of the prefabricated modular
structures into a desirable building through the use of robots. He emphasizes the use of
fabricated timber in construction as they have no greenhouse gas effects on the environment as
cement and concrete materials. It shows how robotic science, structural science, and state of
architectural art can combine to produce magnificent items for construction that are
environmentally friendly.
Williamson, M., Ganah, A., and John, G.A., 2019. Barriers to adopting modern methods of
construction in Australia. Journal of Construction Engineering, Management &
Innovation, 2(1), pp.30-39.
This publication highlights the research findings of John, Ganahl, and Williamson, renown
scholars in the field of construction management. Their research aimed to investigate and
establish the uptake of modern methods of construction and challenges associated with MMC
in major cities of Australia. Some of the outstanding findings from their research were that the
rate of adopting MMC in the Australia was rapid due to government initiative to meet the
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Fabrication Vs. Assembly
highly rising demand for housing, a fast-growing population, and the flexibility of the use of
prefabricated material in building construction.
Willman, J., Knauss, M., Bonwetsch, T., Apolinarska, A.A., Gramazio, F., and Kohler, M.,
2016. Robotic timber construction—Expanding additive fabrication to new
dimensions. Automation in construction, 61, pp.16-23.
Technological evolution has advanced, with almost every industrial operation being done
automatically through the use of robots. The construction industry is not left behind in these
advancements as Willman and associates through publication titled robotic timber construction
explains the introduction of RTC in Australian building and constructions industry,
specifically the use of robots in structural fabrication techniques. Incorporation of robotic
fabrication has advantages as it helps in handling heavy modular structures, manipulate and
position them precisely into position as defined by their control unit. Through this, the quality
of construction has been improved as machines work without fatigue and can work as long as
it is powered.
Wu, P., Xu, Y., Jin, R., Lu, Q., Madgwick, D., and Hancock, C.M., 2019. Perceptions towards
risks involved in off-site construction in the integrated design & construction project delivery.
Journal of cleaner production, 213, pp.899-914.
Modern constructions methods have been embraced by many contractors since it is most
economical, reduces project completion time, and are environmentally friendly. Wu and his
fellow researchers published this article in mid-2019, elaborating on the integrations of
building and construction techniques with advanced technology to improve construction
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Fabrication Vs. Assembly
project management. The only challenge mentioned in the use of off-site materials was the
transportation of large components from manufacturing sites to rural sites of Australia. They
categorically stated that introduction of BIM in construction space was a milestone
advancement in modern constructions. This article illustrates the success of the integrated
modern construction techniques through citation of case studies authors considered during
research.
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