The game-changing strategy for rapid urban development

Owner-operators, self-performing contractors, architects, engineers and building product manufacturers are facing unprecedented challenges. Skilled labor shortages, high demand for cost-effective housing and health care solutions, appeasing municipalities and various interests, liability for safety and quality—the list goes on. 

As a result, large-scale construction projects can no longer be painstakingly designed and hand-built by labor intensive means. The built environment is expanding at a pace and scope unattainable through conventional methods.

Innovative urban developers are adapting best practices from automotive and manufacturing industries to build a strong competitive advantage. Namely, Design for Manufacture and Assembly (DfMA) is the methodology enabling successful urban expansion and economic sustainability.

Capitalizing on the full potential of this strategy requires an understanding DfMA and how it has been optimized for the construction industry. The core elements that differentiate DfMA from standard prefabrication and offsite manufacturing are automated configuration and modular assemblies.

Configuration greatly improves the full development lifecycle through design automation, predictability, traceability and data integration while supporting a huge range of design options. 

Modules designed with simple interfaces empowers unskilled laborers to perform tasks that used to be reserved for tradespeople who are in short supply. Tapping into a locally available labor benefits the community. And rethinking assembly processes can help accelerate the project timeline and reduce costs.

The 3DEXPERIENCE® platform is the only construction industry solution designed to support a DfMA approach. Trailblazers in urban development, construction and building product manufacturing are discovering how the 3DEXPERIENCE platform enables them to: 

• iterate on a model-based design to support the full development cycle
• utilize design automation
• define a system of configurable components
• integrate with automated manufacturing processes
• reengineer and optimize installation processes
• redesign components for modular assembly
• deliver a virtual twin alongside the built deliverable

DfMA is a transformative force, impacting even the smallest aspects of a project. Here is an illustration of how a DfMA approach can affect the composition of a modular component, accelerate the assembly process and create cascading benefits to sustain rapid large-scale development.

Business transformation is enabled by strategic shifts and permeates to every level of an operation and every phase of a development. Due to the widespread challenges in urban development, these shifts are already happening—the door is open for construction industry leaders to embrace DfMA. The 3DEXPERIENCE platform provides the digital infrastructure and tools necessary to implement a DfMA approach and start benefiting now from the inevitable transformation.