Design, development and validation of an augmented reality-enabled production strategy process for the construction industry

Production Strategy is an integral part of production planning and control and is essential to developing a reliable and balanced production plan. The Production Strategy Process (PSP) involves a massive information transfer and communication need among the project team. While BIM can improve the flow of the work, the paradox of designing the 3D models in 2D space remains. This paradox indicates that new visualization technologies are needed to leverage the use of information in the PSP. Moreover, the increased competition and customer expectation add more pressure on construction companies to remain competitive and grow in the modern construction – much like the Darwinian theory, industry must adapt or die. As Industry 4. 0, the fourth industrial revolution, continues to evolve, it is imperative that construction firms seek, find, and adopt new technologies. Augmented reality (AR), a pillar of Industry 4. 0, can be employed as a new user interface technology that introduces a new perspective for developing the PSP. In order to incorporate AR into the PSP, both the technology and the process must be understood. While AR has been of interest to researchers for some time, no single research effort has yet comprehensively investigated the opportunities, benefits, challenges, and future paths toward implementing AR in modern construction. This study starts with a holistic assessment of AR in construction that explores the potential of the technology from the perspective of the industry. The results of this analysis provide the construction industry with a roadmap to guide the implementation of AR. Next, the study focuses on designing and developing an AR-Enabled PSP. The current state of practice of the PSP is investigated and current challenges and pain points in the current state are identified. The opportunities to integrate AR are then identified, and an AR-Enabled future state of the PSP is proposed. Next, an AR-Enabled PSP prototype is built for the Microsoft HoloLens headset and validated on an ongoing construction project. The results of the validation show than the AR-Enabled PSP has the following benefits over the Traditional PSP: improved collaboration, reduced miscommunication, increased quality and detection of errors, enhanced decision-making, increased integration of safety considerations, increased input accuracy, better information access, improved information flow, and better documentation. These benefits were tested through a series of hypotheses comparing both processes. However, no significant difference was found between the Traditional and AR-Enabled PSP in terms of spatial cognition and time efficiency of the process.