The Significance of Logistics Performance to Industrial Modular Construction Project under the “Big Site” Scenario

Abstract

In the industrial modular construction, the fabrication shops, module assembly yards and construction field usually are adjacently located and viewed as the “site”. The offshore sourcing of materials and prefabrication expands the site scope from local into global; hence, the site can be regarded as a “big site”. Though this expansion does not fundamentally change the basic processes in industrial modularization projects, it presents more challenges in project planning. Previous research efforts either focused on the material delivery process or the module assembly process alone, while the integration of both for evaluating the impact of logistics performances upon modular construction planning has yet to be addressed. Thus, a special logistics simulation template is developed based on the Simphony platform to facilitate the simulation modeling of module fabrication, transportation, assembly, and installation processes. Three key performance indicators, named as delivery efficiency, waiting-service ratio and occupancy rate are adapted from port management literature in order to assess the material deliveries at different transit locations along the supply chain. A practical case study representing modular construction practice is presented. The final module field installation schedule is modified based on the simulation results as the logistics constraints, in addition to site resource constraints and module interconnection technological constraints.