Design for manufacturing and assembly (DfMA): a preliminary study of factors influencing its adoption in Singapore

ABSTRACTSingapore has set an ambitious productivity improvement target for the construction industry. One recommendation is to adopt Design for Manufacturing and Assembly (DfMA) technologies to achieve this target. This has, however, met with resistance from the private sector, with only 11.2% of prefabrication usage recorded as of 2001. This study explores the factors affecting the adoption of DfMA to better understand the strategies needed to effectively encourage private sector buy-in. In alignment with the Singapore 2017 Industry Transformation Map, this study adopts one of the three key thrusts of DfMA in construction which relates to the DfMA technologies. Correspondingly, the key factors affecting DfMA adoption were identified and classified in six categories. A questionnaire survey was used to gather information on the level of importance of these influencing factors. Thirty valid responses were received from a sampling frame of more than 120 individuals. The survey participants included developer...