Offsite Production and Manufacturing for Innovative Construction

Offsite Production and Manufacturing for Innovative Construction

Author: Jack S. Goulding

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2019-06-19

Total Pages: 539

ISBN-13: 1351376896

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The offsite and modular market is continuing to grow. This book builds on the success of a number of initiatives, including formative findings from literature, research and development and practice-based evidence (success stories). It presents new thinking and direction from leading experts in the fields of: design, process, construction, engineering, manufacturing, logistics, robotics, delivery platforms, business and transformational strategies, change management, legislation, organisational learning, software design, innovation and biomimetics. This book is particularly novel and timely, as it brings together a number of cogent subjects under one collective ‘umbrella’. Each of these chapters contain original findings, all of which culminate in three 'Key Learning Points' which provide new insight into the cross-cutting themes, interrelationships and symbiotic forces that exist between each of these chapters. This approach also provides readers with new contextualised understanding of the wider issues affecting the offsite market, from the need to embrace societal challenges, through to the development of rich value-laden solutions required for creating sector resilience. Content includes a balance between case studies and practice-based work, through to technical topics, theoretical propositions, pioneering research and future offsite opportunities ready for exploitation. This work includes: stakeholder integration, skills acquisition, new business models and processes, circularity and sustainable business strategies, robotics and automation, innovation and change, lean production methodologies and new construction methods, Design for Manufacturing and Assembly, scaled portfolio platforms and customisability, new legal regulatory standards and conformance issues and offsite feasibility scenario development/integration.


Mathematical Conversations

Mathematical Conversations

Author: Robin Wilson

Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media

Published: 2012-12-06

Total Pages: 486

ISBN-13: 1461301955

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Approximately fifty articles that were published in The Mathematical Intelligencer during its first eighteen years. The selection demonstrates the wide variety of attractive articles that have appeared over the years, ranging from general interest articles of a historical nature to lucid expositions of important current discoveries. Each article is introduced by the editors. "...The Mathematical Intelligencer publishes stylish, well-illustrated articles, rich in ideas and usually short on proofs. ...Many, but not all articles fall within the reach of the advanced undergraduate mathematics major. ... This book makes a nice addition to any undergraduate mathematics collection that does not already sport back issues of The Mathematical Intelligencer." D.V. Feldman, University of New Hamphire, CHOICE Reviews, June 2001.


The Impact of Building Information Modelling

The Impact of Building Information Modelling

Author: Ray Crotty

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2013-03-01

Total Pages: 257

ISBN-13: 1136860568

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Construction projects involve a complex set of relationships, between parties with different professional backgrounds trying to achieve a very complex goal. Under these difficult circumstances, the quality of information on which projects are based should be of the highest possible standard. The line-based, two dimensional drawings on which conventional construction is based render this all but impossible. This is the source of some major shortcomings in the construction industry, and this book focuses on the two most fundamental of these: the failure to deliver projects predictably: to the required quality, on time and within budget; and the failure of most firms in the industry to make a survivable level of profit. By transforming the quality of information used in building, BIM aims to transform construction completely. After describing and explaining these problems, the way in which BIM promises to provide solutions is examined in detail. A discussion of the theory and practice of BIM is also provided, followed by a review of various recent surveys of BIM usage in the US, UK and selected European economies. The way in which other industries, including retail and manufacturing, have been transformed by information are explored and compared with current developments in the deployment of BIM in construction. Five case studies from the UK show how BIM is being implemented, and the effects it is having on architects and contractors. This book is perfect for any construction professional interested in improving the efficiency of their business, as well as undergraduate and postgraduate students wishing to understand the importance of BIM.


Fathers' Fair Share

Fathers' Fair Share

Author: Earl S. Johnson

Publisher: Russell Sage Foundation

Published: 1999-04-01

Total Pages: 256

ISBN-13: 1610443209

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One of the most challenging goals for welfare reformers has been improving the collection of child support payments from noncustodial parents, usually fathers. Often vilified as deadbeats who have dropped out of their children's lives, these fathers have been the target of largely punitive enforcement policies that give little consideration to the complex circumstances of these men's lives. Fathers' Fair Share presents an alternative to these measures with an in-depth study of the Parents Fair Share Program. A multi-state intervention run by the Manpower Demonstration Research Corporation, the program was designed to better the life skills of nonpaying fathers with children on public assistance, in the belief that this would encourage them to improve their level of child support. The men chosen for the program frequently lived on the margins of society. Chronically unemployed or underemployed, undereducated, and often earning their money on the streets, they bore the scars of drug or alcohol abuse, troubled family lives, and arrest records. Among those of African American and Hispanic descent, many felt a deep-rooted distrust of the mainstream economy. The Parents Fair Share Program offered these men the chance not only to learn the social skills needed for stable employment but to participate in discussions about personal difficulties, racism, and problems in their relationships with their children and families. Fathers' Fair Share details the program's mix of employment training services, peer support groups, and formal mediation of disputes between custodial and noncustodial parents. Equally important, the authors explore the effect of the participating fathers' expectations and doubts about the program, which were colored by their often negative views about the child support and family law system. The voices heard in Fathers' Fair Share provides a rare look into the lives of low-income fathers and how they think about their struggles and prospects, their experiences in the workplace, and their responsibilities toward their families. Parents Fair Share demonstrated that, in spite of their limited resources, these men are more likely to make stronger efforts to improve support payments and to become greater participants in their children's lives if they encounter a less adversarial and arbitrary enforcement system. Fathers' Fair Share offers a valuable resource to the design of social welfare programs seeking to reach out to this little-understood population, and addresses issues of tremendous importance for those concerned about welfare reform, child support enforcement, family law, and employment policy.