Transition of Construction Products to Manufacturing Products

Assalamoalikum everyone, long time no see!

So, today I was going through this course on an e-learning platform named Coursera with the title “Construction Project Management”. And as the name of this blog, I came to learn about the interesting fact that how the two industries i.e. Manufacturing & Construction industries are interlinked, different, and transitioning into one another. This blog is more focused on the transition of the construction industry into manufacturing.

First of all, let’s discuss how the two industries are different, which is explained in the flow chart below. One thing that is very significant to mention here is that for the manufacturing process when in the end the product is bought, it is bought for the whole price by the client. Whereas in the case of construction industry the payments will be across all the phase of the project. An example for the manufacturing industry is the Tesla Factory, Fermont, California, USA. And an example for the construction industry is Empire State Building, NY, USA.

From the course of “Construction Project Management” by Columbia University

Now that the basis for the difference between the two is established. Let’s discuss the future of the construction industry or in other words transition of the construction industry into the manufacturing industry. Although one of the main challenges of today’s construction industry is the lack of technology adoption as it paced in other industries of the world. Despite this, experts suggest the future of the construction industry is going to be revolutionary. The construction process which is, still largely carried out on site (as the tradition is) is shifting to manufacturing plants. There could be several examples of such processes such as 3D printing, precast structural elements such as bridge girders, prefabricated partition elements of houses.

During the Corona Virus Pandemic outbreak, Huoshenshan (Fire God Mountain) Hospital in Wuhan, central China’s Hubei Province was built just in 10 days. Actually, the placing of prefabricated elements on site took 10 days.

From “The Global Times”

Another example is of a 1900 sq.ft house 3D printed in China. All these innovations and construction methods leave us with the hints, where the construction industry is headed in future i.e. transition of construction industry to manufacturing industry.

From “Techradar”