Adapting manufacturing project processes into construction: a methodology

The need for improvements in the construction industry in the UK has been reported through a succession of Government and Institutional reports, illustrating the problem areas. The area of project processes in manufacturing has been found to have great similarities with its equivalent (design and construction) in the construction industry. This has led to co-ordinated efforts in improving the construction industry project processes by considering 'Construction as a Manufacturing Process.' Those efforts concentrated in adapting the manufacturing project process elements into construction. However, the methodology needed to adapt those processes has not been considered. This was presented as an opportunity to develop an original and novel methodology for the Adaptation of MAnufacturing Project Processes Into Construction (AMaPPIC). The aforementioned need combined with the author's experience in both the manufacturing and construction industries were the catalysts for the formulation of the research. A case study research strategy was used to undertake the research, for the discovery, building and testing of the AMaPPIC methodology. A number of research methods were employed to collect data for the research. The necessary literature in business process management, manufacturing NPD (new product development), and design and construction was combined with a number of informing case studies for the discovery and building of the AMaPPIC methodology. The methodology consists of 14 stages, which consider the identification and demonstration of a need for adapting project processes into construction to the final 'existence' and continuous improvement of the adapted process within an organisation. The GPT case study was used to test the AMaPPIC methodology in a 'live' project within the company. The results of the case study were used to further define and improve the methodology by examining its applicability in the Poole project. The resulting AMaPPIC methodology provides an original, prototypical solution to adapting manufacturing project processes into construction.