Process Modularity - A lean approach to develop industrialised building platforms

The concept of modularity within product platforms and lean thinking has drawn attention in recent years, to achieve a balance between standardisation and customisation in industrialised building (IB). Modularity plays an important role in IB, where companies use standardised modules on common platforms for product development. Although the application of product modularity is widely discussed in the literature, the concept of modularity is not fully explored as a mechanism for process development, aiding to improve cost efficiency, quality and
coordination across the IB value chain. Previous research within lean construction emphasises the importance of modularity in both product and process dimensions. However, a lack of clear understanding has impeded the full adoption of process modularity in IB platforms.
This paper examines the work processes of a Japanese case company to identify modular patterns in the technical systems for varied house production. By analysing qualitative data, the findings present potential advantages of modularity in the case company’s lean approach to
standardise the design, production, assembly and logistics processes. The study contributes in presenting a concept of process modularity to support developing process platforms in IB.