To get a digital thing slightly wrong has, in a sense, a transience that doesn’t matter.
We aren’t exclusively referring to the process of manufacturing large modules in factories and moving everything off construction sites.Although offsite will certainly form part of the solution, we propose to use a full range of new techniques and technologies, including platform design.
Our approach creates an entirely new way of working, one which sets out to achieve the best possible outcomes right from the start.This makes sure that the goals of quality, efficiency, suitability, productivity and sustainability inform every stage of the process.. By adopting a way of working that includes P-DfMA and a standard component design programme, we can achieve repeatable and consistent quality, and also facilitate operational and delivery excellence across projects.This goal has been identified as a focus for the future of UK construction by The Construction Innovation Hub, and the application of a Platform approach is discussed within the.
Construction Playbook.Our DfMA journey.
We began to use the term ‘Platforms’ (P-DfMA) while working with the UK Government Ministry of Justice (MOJ), the Infrastructure Projects Authority (IPA) and the Manufacturing Technology Centre (MTC).
It was the MTC that first introduced us to the concept of Platforms.Despite the advances, construction planning is still typically done using static Gantt charts which, although highly detailed, often have the potential to be inflexible, inefficient and inaccurate, and cannot allow stakeholders to explore fully and rapidly the ‘what if’ of projects and the effects of their decisions on the final product.
A lack of clear visualisation can also limit the communication of the planning to the project team and again result in an unclear relationship between project briefing, design and execution.With concept and design project stages – where this work is often done – being where the largest potential gains can be made, the power to positively influence a project with thorough optioneering to reduce risk and increase predictability is crucial..
Creating flexible, digital models that reflect the world around us.This is where the real strengths of Discrete Event Simulation (DES), or time-based process simulation, can be brought in.