Permanent and Mobile Industrialised Building System ...

World Conference on Information Technology

Permanent and Mobile Industrialised Building System Manufacturing Plant Based on Malaysian Case Study M.N.A. Azmana*, M.S.S. Ahamada, T.A. Majida, M.H. Hanafib a

Universiti Sains Malaysia, School of Civil Engineering, Engineering Campus, 14300 Nibong Tebal, Penang, Malaysia b

Universiti Sains Malaysia, School of Housing Building and Planning,Main Campus, 11800 Penang, Malaysia

Abstract Industrialised Building System (IBS) is the term used to represent the prefabrication and construction industrialisation concept in Malaysia. The Government and the research done on IBS have helped to change the perception of the construction industry players to elevate the standard of IBS to the international level. The benefits of prefabrication helped the Housing Ministries in various countries to fulfil the high demand for housing especially in United Kingdom, United States, Singapore, Hong Kong and Malaysia. Providing affordable homes are becoming a vital issue to meet the increasing demand for houses with the increase in the population growth. Singapore and Hong Kong has limited land space. Thus the right choice for such cities would be to build high rise prefabricated building. The unique case in Malaysia is that the Government motivates the construction industry to use Industrialised Building System for most types of buildings. The most popular IBS component used in Malaysia is precast components. The total number of IBS precast manufacturing plant has increased from 15 manufacturers in 2009 to 36 manufacturers in 2011. From the evolution of the IBS construction industry, the IBS manufacturers played an important role in changing the contractors’ perception in the usage of IBS. Based on the qualitative survey; 15 interviews and four case studies, there are two types of IBS manufacturers; i.e. permanent IBS manufacturer and mobile IBS manufacturer. The difficulty in setting up the IBS manufacturing plant will be the barriers of the development of the IBS industry. The research results have managed to identify the strength and constraint of setting up a permanent and mobile IBS manufacturing plant.

Keywords:Prefabricated; housing; building; mobile manufacturing; permanent manufacturing

1. Introduction In line with the current housing demands in the global market, the construction industry has shifted its focus to mass production assembly in standardizing product development. This strategy has prompted the Malaysian construction industry to study the value added of construction industry from various countries that have achieved the implementation of prefabricated technology such as the United Kingdom (UK), United States (US), Singapore and Hong Kong [1-4]. In Malaysia, the prefabrication technology is known as industrialised building system (IBS) which is defined as a complete process system of construction works where almost all the component structures is manufactured onsite or offsite, and the product is transported to the site and to be installed in the high precision coordinate joint as well as achieve high quality works, and accelerate the time of completion of the projects. The current system of IBS consists of precast component systems, formworks systems, steel framing systems, prefabricated timber framing systems, block work systems and innovative systems. The “off-site” manufacturing production needs to be fabricated in mass production with consistent volume and ability to obtain good investment returns. The uniqueness of “off-site” construction sector lies in the combination of material processing, manufacturing, mechanical engineering, installation services, construction, and civil engineering activities [5]. IBS was promoted since the 60’s as mentioned by Majid [6], but the construction industry still used the conventional method. This have caused a negative impact with the delay in the implementation of the projects to the Malaysian Construction Industry (MCI) and thus in certain cases the budget was exceeded, projected completion dates were not achieved and quality was not always up to the expectation [7-9]. As a result of this, the government have set up the Construction Industry Development Board (CIDB) in 1994 to educate the construction industry and

to regulate and register construction firms in seven categories of grades from G1 to G7. The CIDB has been actively promoting the use of IBS in the local construction industry since 1998, and educating the contractors with the concept of functioning as “assemblers of components” instead of “builders” [6]. The CIDB had implemented the IBS Score in construction industry to measure the level of IBS usage in building. Based on the CIDB requirements [10], all public buildings are required to achieve the 70% IBS Score at the minimum while in the private residential buildings, the contractor need to acquire minimum of 50% IBS Score to receive an exemption of construction levy for the project. The scoring system is made accordingly to the principles of usage of prefabricated and precast components, off-site production of components, the use of standardised components, repeatability and design building component based on the Malaysian Standard “ Guide to Modular Coordination in Building”, MS 1064 [11]. Consequently there is a high demand for the IBS precast concrete among the contractors, whereby they can obtain high IBS Score by using the precast components. Therefore a qualitative survey and four case studies have been conducted to study the establishment of precast IBS manufacturing site and the criteria of setting up the manufacturing plant of precast IBS components. 1.1. The Similarity Term of Prefabrication and IBS Azman [12] reported that the term IBS have similarity with the US and UK. In the US, manufactured home (MH) industry is described as Off-Site Construction Techniques (OSCT) [13]. However in the UK, the Modern Methods of Construction (MMC) is defined in various ways; prefabrication, off-site production and off-site manufacturing [14]. While the term used in Hong Kong and Singapore is prefabrication [15]. The US, Hong Kong and Singapore are focusing on the issue of modular housing while Malaysia and UK are concern on building using the IBS system. 1.2. Modular Housing History After the World War II, prefabrication of building was the best method to fulfil the housing demand. In the early 1970s, the US government explored several prefabrication building systems [4]. Among the largest prefabrication building system in the US is the manufactured house (MH) which is the second largest provider of housing units and shares about 20% of the total housing market [16]. The houses are constructed in a controlled factory environment based on the national building code specified by the US and the entire structure is transported to the site and installed onsite [17, 18]. The federal standards regulate manufactured housing design and construction, strength and durability, transportability, fire resistance, energy efficiency and quality. The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Code also sets performance standards for the heating, plumbing, air conditioning, thermal and electrical systems. MH provides financial aid, and compared to site-built (traditional stick-frame) homes, manufactured homes are about half the cost per square foot. In early 1980s, the same action was also taken by the government of Singapore and Hong Kong to spread the use of prefabrication system widely in public housing [15]. Prefabrication enable to build up high rise building and able to send the prefabrication components to the limited access area and the component is directly erected from the crane. In 2011, 84% of Singapore’s residents lived in the Housing and Development Board (HDB) flats with 95% owning such homes, is one of the highest achievement in the country [19]. While the Hong Kong Housing Authority (HKHA), has recommended the usage of precast units and reusable formwork in all public housing contracts[4]. Therefore, IBS is suitable for cities and regions with the problems of dense population and with insufficient land for housing development. 2. Methodology The research has been conducted using a qualitative approach. The two approaches used in the survey were the interview and case study. The total number of IBS precast manufacturers registered with the Construction Industry Development Board (CIDB) Malaysia is 36 [20]. But based on the CIDB secondary data, there are 25 IBS precast manufacturers which have factories while the others have temporary factories based on the term of the project. A population survey was conducted and interviews were carried out with 15 correspondents out of the 36 managers of IBS precast manufacturing plants. Majority of the correspondents were interviewed by face-to-face interview while the other correspondents were interviewed by phone calls. The average duration of an interview was approximately

one hour. The semi structured questionnaire approach was used to cover a wider range of data scope but with a shallow depth. All the sampling correspondents where appropriate were chosen from experience persons who were involved in the setting up of the IBS manufacturing plant and also experts on IBS. To enhance the research results, and to further extent the research, four case studies approach were applied, which is typically developed or shaped up based on literature review, in order to have a deeper understanding on the study of the IBS manufacturing set up. The four case studies were divided into two parts; two case studies were on permanent IBS precast manufacturing while the other two was on mobile manufacturing. Due to the limitation of using a single approach i.e. either interview or case study, has driven researchers to apply both approaches in order to obtain optimum results.

3. Results and Discussions Based on the qualitative results, there are 11 criteria for setting up an IBS precast manufacturing plant as shown in Table 1. Most of the IBS manufacturer was concerned on the value obtained from the project before the setting up the IBS precast manufacturing plant and rule of the thumb for the profit margin IBS project is around 10%. Usually the large IBS manufacturer player will target a minimum production value of RM100 million annually and for the new player will target a minimum project value of at least RM10 million annually. The new IBS manufacturer player will preferable choose the mobile manufacturing plant which require a lower initial capital and the average initial cost for the setting up of the plant is about RM1 million. Although, the big IBS player have the capacity for setting up a permanent manufacturing plant, but the initial capital will cost about RM15 million to RM25 million and it is 15 to 25 times the cost for setting up a mobile IBS manufacturing plant. Therefore, the type of technology used by the IBS manufacturer will require high capital investment in order to buy the machineries. Foremost the permanent manufacturing plant will have a full cover shaded factory, mould, semi-auto or full automatic machine running the movement of IBS component, batching concrete plant, permanent crane, boiling steam oven and acquire high use of electricity. Even though, permanent manufacturing plant require a high initial capital investment but the capability to produce concrete is high. Based on the case, the permanent manufacturing plant has the capability to produce 100,000 m 2/year of concrete with the support of 350 workers. In comparison, the maximum capability in the case of the mobile manufacturing plant is 37,500 m2/year of concrete and the manpower required is 25 workers. The comparison case study between the permanent and mobile manufacturing shows that the production capability of the permanent manufacturing plant is almost triple that of the mobile manufacturing plant. Vice-versa, for the mobile manufacturing plant will have mould, mobile or permanent crane to erect the IBS component and set up the batching concrete plant. If the size capital for setting up the mobile manufacturing is limited, they can outsource the concrete. Thus, the mobile manufacturer will not be required to focus on the inspection of the concrete as the concrete is easily cast into the mould. In addition, the mobile manufacturing plant is open air and the advantage in the tropical weather country is the use of the sun for natural curing and therefore be able to save cost. Even though, Malaysia have heavy raining season and it would be affect the manufacturing process. The creativity of the manufacturer to overcome this matter is by designing portable roofing which acts to protect the concrete work from the rain. After the concrete has been cast into the mould, the concrete will be covered with canvas and able to move the portable roofing for the next concrete work. Fig 1. shows the portable roofing and mobile crane erecting the IBS components, mould beam and a design layout of IBS mobile manufacturing plant. So, why does the government wants to educate the construction industry to be involved with IBS? The strength of IBS manufacturing is the ability to complete the project early, environmental control and high quality product. For example the conventional method will take 2-3 years to complete the project but by using IBS, the project will be able to complete within 1.5- 2 years. Thus, the IBS manufacturing is able to run almost two cycle of the project as compared to conventional method. The IBS manufacturing is also able to be conducted using environmental friendly method whereby the production will lead to zero waste and contribute to the sustainable development of the construction industry. All the IBS components will be inspected with quality control and ensure compliance of quality standard before being sent to the construction site for installation.

Table 1. The Comparison of Permanent and Mobile IBS Precast Manufacturing Criteria Annual Project Capital Technology Maintenance Land Capacity Mould Roof of IBS Manufacturing Manpower

Product

Crane

Concrete

Permanent Manufacturing RM100 million above High Prefabricated, semi-auto, automatic High maintenance: High bil electricity Minimum 15 acres Flexible size Permanent Protected from rain Maximum 500 workers and average 200 workers Specific task High payment Hollow Core Slab Half slab Stair case Beam Column Wall panel Permanent At factory: 25-30 tonnes At site: 50-260 tonnes Required batching plant concrete

Mobile Manufacturing RM10 million above Low Prefabricated Low maintenance: Low bil electricity Can start with 5 acres Flexible size Mobile Develop portable roofing to protect the concrete 25 workers Multi tasking Low payment Half slab Stair case Beam Column Wall panel Permanent or mobile At factory: 25-30 tonnes At site: 50-260 tonnes Outsource or setup a new batching plant

Fig. 1. (a) Portable Roofing and Mobile Crane; (b) Mould Beam; (c) Design Layout IBS Precast Mobile Manufacturing

4. Conclusion This paper presents an outlook of the respondents in the assessment of 11 criteria for setting up IBS manufacturing. The results of this study has provided an indication that the construction industry need to move to a new paradigm in determining the strength and criteria for each type of IBS precast manufacturing i.e. permanent or mobile manufacturing. Although technology is vital to accelerate the development of a country but it requires the appropriate technology as one of the major factor in setting up IBS precast manufacturing plant, based on the qualitative survey. In conclusion, the IBS technology must be affordable, ability to suit to the climatic condition in Malaysia using environmental friendly method and contribute to the sustainable development of the construction industry. Also the need to reduce the knowledge gap between the government and IBS players, and future research should be continued to educate the existing and new IBS players.

Acknowledgements The Authors wish to thank the Construction Industry Development Board (CIDB), Malaysia and Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) for the providing the data and fund.

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