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Prefabricated housing estates represent an important urban, architectural and historical phenomenon in the Czech Republic. Most people prefer to live in prefabricated buildings because of their central location, good transport services and a lot of amenities in their vicinity. Owners or tenants of flats prefer prefabricated buildings after revitalization, as they are more affordable than new developments and at the same time do not have such high energy consumption costs as prefabricated buildings without revitalization. The paper aims to focus on the energy savings of a specific prefabricated building. The heating consumption and the resulting monetary savings are addressed. The aim of the research is the performance of economic and life cycle analyses of the building. Firstly, the original condition of the prefabricated building and the extent of the revitalization carried out in 2001 were specified. Secondly, an energy assessment of the apartment building was carried out, where the heating consumption before and after the revitalization of the apartment building was determined and the resulting heat savings for each year of the assessment were determined in the appropriate units (GJ, kWh/(m2/yr)). Economic indicators and life cycle costs were determined based on the modelling of the heat price development and possible energy savings. Currently, there has been a huge increase in energy prices. The reason for the price increase is the current situation in the wholesale market, where the prices have been reaching extreme amounts for several months and their further development is difficult to predict. The energy crisis has deepened as a result of the geopolitical situation. Customers are expected to experience a further increase in the electricity and gas prices since the prices can increase by up to tens of per cent. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Prefabricated buildings constructed to be used in a specific region cannot be assumed to work unconditionally in different climates around the world. It is important to develop passive house solutions for each location, suitable for the actual climate and geographic conditions. Shelters could be used in different applications such as refugee housing or telecommunication stations. Photovoltaic energy could cover the electricity consumption of these shelters. Shelters for different applications should be usable in all weather conditions, and because of that different climate zones were chosen. A full study about three climate zones was done to study the different factors that play a significant rule in choosing the location of the shelter. In this study, prefabricated housing was designed to ensure thermal comfort by doing structure design changes and using solar energy as an energy source. Three different locations have been chosen to be able to perform the best structure and components design for every location, taking into consideration the assumptions taken in each place. The total photovoltaic system was designed with a capacity of hot, moderate and cold climate zones with 2.0, 1.8 and 3.45 kWp, respectively, along with energy plus the production of 38% in the hot, 47% in the moderate and 28% in the cold climate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The object of this paper is to determine the most economical buffer capacity in the product ion systems for the manufacture of prefabricated houses using precast concrete panels, via an analysis of the various kinds of buffer systems inherent in those systems. Two types of the component (precast concrete panels) are manufactured a standard metal form for standard components and a special metal form for the special components required by each individual customer. While the standard forms can be produced beforehand and used for many different projects, the special forms are customized -- made-to-order -- for each particular project and cannot be produced until the order for that project has been received Generally then, manufacturing policy is determined by the average value of standard ratios, that is the proportion of standard components out of the total number of components of each order. In this system, the number of standard forms can be ascertained from total demand and the standard ratio. However the number of standard forms determined by this method might precipitate supply into a shortage on demand and change the lead time. This is due to three types of fluctuations; arrival intervals, standard ratios and special form processing times. In this papers mixed buffer production systems are proposed in order to decrease the shortage of components and the shipping lead time, both of which could be affected by the three types of fluctuation mentioned above. With this in mind, it is hoped that the several numerical examples show that mixed buffer product ion systems are more effective than a single buffer production system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Developing prefabricated house building is an important strategy to realize sustainable construction of urban human settlement environment. The frequent occurrence of poor construction time performance in practice has become a major obstacle to the development of prefabricated house building. However, we do not know much about the key factors and internal mechanisms that affect the construction time performance of prefabricated house building. To fill the gap, we examined six cases in China to identify the underlying influencing factors and their internal mechanisms by using a multi-case study method. The results show that project technology system and project delivery system are the two key factors affecting the construction time performance of prefabricated house building. In particular, we find that different types of project complexity (i.e., product, process and organizational complexity) may play a mediating role in the relationships. The results also show that construction time performance differences across modes of project technology system and project delivery system are associated with their management of prefabricated house building project complexity. The findings advance our understanding of time performance and project complexity management of prefabricated house building project in theory, and provide useful implications for policy-making and project practices to promote the development of prefabricated building in practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Temporary prefabricated houses (PHs) can be effective in providing disaster victims with a temporary living place quickly whenever there is a natural disaster, and are also widely used in providing construction workers with living places. However, there are very limited studies on indoor thermal environment inside PHs, with their inadequacies. Therefore, an experimental study on the indoor thermal environments in an experimental PH located in the subtropics is reported in this paper. The study results suggested that at closed door and window situation, the air temperature inside the experimental PH was very high at daytime in summer, but very low at nighttime in winter. In addition, the variation of the air temperature inside the PH appeared synchronously with that of outdoor air temperature at daytime in summer, suggesting insignificant thermal mass of envelope to store solar heat gain. Furthermore, in both winter and summer, indoor air temperature stratification was observed. At daytime, indoor air temperature was increased with the height but at nighttime, decreased with the height. Finally, external roof temperatures in both winter and summer time were lower than outdoor air temperature, reflecting sky cooling effects for the experimental PH. The measured thermal environments inside the experimental PH, clearly demonstrated that the thermal environments inside PHs are highly unacceptable for long term occupation and that appropriate measures should be taken to improve the thermal environments in PHs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A current trend in residential construction is the use of prefabricated wall panels. Panels are manufactured at a factory, then arranged into stacks for transporting to the construction site, where they are assembled. Current approaches to planning panelized construction are focused on stacking and transport efficiency, with little consideration given to assembly. This results in excessive panel material handling during construction, increased construction lead time, and increased risk of worker overload and/or injury. This paper proposes a lean approach to panel stacking, panel sequencing, and stack locating, where panels within each stack form a continuous structure and are erected via continuous flow. The objectives are to minimize the quantity of stacks, panel material handling distance, and the work required to position and brace panels-panel interference is ignored. Few researchers have addressed this problem: a single algorithm has been reported, and this only works for certain building shapes and may provide infeasible solutions. The proposed approach and algorithm result in improved performance, have no shape restrictions, and always provide feasible solutions. Additionally, computational experiments show that the algorithm outperforms methods being employed in the construction industry today. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Manufactured homes (also known outside the US as prefabricated homes) are a viable housing option for low-income buyers, but traditional mortgages are not available for purchase of manufactured homes because of a perception of higher risk of default among purchasers of manufactured homes. Research suggests that creditscoring models which incorporate objective data such as income, debt-to-income ratio and credit history result in an accurate and objective predictive tool to estimate likelihood of late payments and default among traditional home buyers. This study showed that these same models can be applied similarly to purchasers of manufactured homes. A Tobit model was developed to evaluate which factors most accurately predict default and late payment behaviour among borrowers who purchased a manufactured home. The model showed that when decomposed into the probability of making a late payment and number of late payments, credit score and income are both significant predictors in both sets of borrowers of both the probability of making a late payment and the number of late payments. The higher the credit score, the less likely the borrower is to make a late payment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to analyze the current customer relationship management (CRM) with regard to manufacturers and retailers in the US manufactured housing (MH) industry and to present an MM industry-specific framework of CRM system. Design/methodology/approach - An overall CRM system was investigated through a questionnaire survey and interviews with industry experts. Based on the analysis of current CRM and the specific data collected, a framework of manufacturer-retailer relationship optimization model (MRROM) for the MH industry was developed and validated trough the MH industry practitioners. Findings - MRROM describes the overall framework of an industry-specific CRM solution for the MH industry and suggests a new paradigm for the MH customization process as a focus area. Research limitations/implications - This research only focused on the framework of optimal CRM system at the macro levels and an optimization model in the critically constrained manufacturer-retailer relationship areas. Practical implications - The proposed framework of MRROM can be used for developing the CRM vision and CRM strategies for the MH industry. It can then be the basis of an assessment of the current and required CRM capabilities of the enterprise. Originality/value - Supply chain management for the MH industry is a new area of research. The proposed MRROM will contribute to improving the effectiveness and long-term success of the supply chain in the MH industry. In addition, the proposed MRROM can be applied to other industries in the similar circumstances as well and is expected to facilitate the overall sales process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate the impact of the component assemblies redesign on the material handling costs associated with the facility layout and also, on the productivity of the assembly process. Component assemblies are the sub-assemblies that are incorporated into the manufactured house as it progresses on the assembly line. Design/methodology/approach - Floor assembly is used as an example to demonstrate the impact of the component assembly redesign process. A step-by-step process of assembling a floor in the case study factory is described and changes to the process are proposed. The existing and redesigned floor assemblies are analyzed using the factory layout analysis models and the production simulation models. Findings - The proposed redesign resulted in a small savings of less than 1 per cent in the material handling costs and a substantial savings of around 20 per cent in the production time. Research limitations/implications - The work described in this paper is based on the existing floor assembly process in a case study factory. Due to the practical limitations material handling routes and production activities associated with the redesigned assemblies were estimated. The results from this research show that redesign of component assemblies can provide potential avenues of savings for the manufactured housing industry. Such analysis can be performed for any component assembly individually or in combination with other assemblies in order to realize potential savings with relatively minor changes. Originality/value - Production-related research in manufactured housing has traditionally focused on either improving the facility layout or the assembly line process but not the combined impact of these two aspects. This paper presents a possible approach to investigating the combined impact by analyzing the impact of redesigned floor assembly. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • The energy use and indoor comfort of a prefabricated house was investigated. • The TRNSYS model of the house was validated with a set of measured data. • Using the validated model the sensitivities were analysed for six climate zones. • Most sensitive envelope variables and trends against degree days were identified. • Hierarchical cluster analysis created groups of cities with similar sensitivities. In prefabricated buildings distinctive construction process and lightweight components affect design strategies and consequences. Therefore, to create more sustainable prefabricated buildings, it is important to understand the effects of their envelope parameters on energy performance and indoor environmental quality. Although previous research have investigated the effects of envelope on energy and indoor comfort outputs, the parameters of lightweight prefabricated envelope are not thoroughly considered. This article quantifies the effects of building envelope parameters on the energy use, thermal comfort and daylighting levels of a prefabricated house built in Australia. A building simulation model was developed and validated by comparing predicted with measured indoor temperatures of the house. The baseline performance for evaluation of energy consumption, thermal discomfort hours and daylight unsatisfied hours were carried out using Transient System Simulation (TRNSYS) tool. Series of regression-based sensitivity analyses (SAs) to identify the most sensitive parameters were conducted by coupling TRNSYS, jEPlus and SimLab. Applications in six climate zones were investigated. The important focus areas found by SA in each climate and their corresponding design responses can be applied across ranges of prefabricated building projects if built in similar climatic conditions. SA results revealed window glazing and shading among the most influential parameters on all targeted performance outputs. The relationship between sensitivity levels to energy consumption and degree days indicated that the type of window has a higher impact on the reduction of energy use in the cooling dominated climates while insulation of wall was found a more effective strategy in heating-dominated climates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Building Research & Information is the property of Routledge and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This article examines the administrative process which led to the construction of 160,000 prefabs between 1946 and 1948, The links of industrialists with government, the influence of Churchill, the rivalry between the key Ministries of Works and Health, and an influx of enthusiasts for prefabrication into the administration, all had their part to play in the adoption of the prefab programme. Implementation, however, involved unforeseen delays arid expense, and a major unintended consequence was a move against increased centralization of public house-building. The prefab programme was one of the first examples of the dangers of relying on technology as a solution to housing shortage, but the manner in which this badly planned and expensive panacea made its appearance also illustrates how far policy-making in practice falls short of the ideal ‘rational’ model. Instead of choosing between conflicting policy options the wartime government preferred to pursue a number of them simultaneously. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Multi-objective optimisation of prefabricated building envelope was conducted. • An optimisation framework and a library of building components were developed. • Life cycle cost, thermal comfort and daylight illuminance are objective functions. • The constraints are total volatile organic compound, thermal and sound insulation. • The sets of optimal solutions in Pareto fronts for 6 climate zones are presented. The ever-increasing attention towards implementation of environmentally sustainable buildings necessitates the predictions of energy consumption and indoor environmental quality (IEQ) during early design stages. Prefabrication of buildings changes the construction process and components which affects building performance. Better understanding the effects of envelope components on energy performance and IEQ will inform design decisions leading to the creation of more sustainable buildings. In this article multi-objective optimisations of building envelope were carried out by coupling TRNSYS (Transient System Simulation Tool) and jEPlus + EA (EnergyPlus simulation manager for parametrics + Evolutionary Algorithms). The objective functions to be minimised were thermal discomfort hours (TDH), daylight unsatisfied hours (DUH) and life cycle costs (LCC) while maintaining acceptable sound transmission levels and indoor air quality. The decision variables were envelope components of a prefabricated house. Applications for six different climate zones corresponding to eight locations in Australia were investigated. The optimal solution sets were unique for each climate zone. The optimal solutions achieved 27–31% savings in LCC compared to the baseline. The reductions for TDH varied from 6% to 55% among the locations. As a result of trade-offs, the selected compromised solutions in each climate could achieve better reductions for either TDH, LCC or both. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article offers some insights into home prefabrication citing the book "The Prefabricated Home," by Colin Davies. Davies focused on the production failure of seminal works such as Buckminster Fuller's Wichita House and Lloyd Wright's Usonian Houses with the Second World War's prefabrication boom. Other popular prefabricated homes include Le Corbusier's Maison Citrohan and Konrad Wachsmann's Packaged House designs with Walter Gropius.