If innovation for an entire industry is the challenge, then what about innovations for a single factory or a single modular home builder?
by Offsite Builder Staff
Every member of construction management regards innovation with a lot of skepticism and for good reason. Rising costs associated with freight, new regulations, and codes and now the rapid increase in commodity prices along with shortages of critical building materials can have that effect on people.
It takes a lot of time, talent, and money to produce innovations that affect the entire construction industry and who really wants to be the person or factory that leads the way? “Not me,” said one after another.
OK, if innovation for an entire industry is the challenge, then what about innovations for a single factory or a single home builder. You still need the same time, talent, and money. The trick is how to allocate those limited resources, especially money, to first learn what the future needs are and how to innovate to achieve them. You do not get innovation for free – you must allocate time, money, and people to the search for new products, services, methods etc. However, innovation can lead to powerful cost savings, profitable new products, and competitive advantage.
Right now, for the residential housing industry, the main benefit of innovation simply might be survival. If we just continue to cut costs without innovating, we will be bypassed by other types of innovative construction such as MEP finished panelization including panels made from extruded materials. Hemp building materials that are already starting to make inroads in on-site construction will need innovative factory managers to oversee their introduction into off-site factory production lines.
No matter that we understand that innovation is a priority, it still comes down to one person, either a builder or someone in the factory, deciding that they will pick up the flag and begin leading the charge.
There are many ways to achieve innovation. Let’s divide activities into three categories.
1. It costs virtually nothing to:
- Communicate a vision of innovation
- Set goals and objectives for ideas, prototypes, and innovations
- Ask others in your company for ideas
- Ask builders for ideas
- Ask your customers for ideas
- Ask suppliers for ideas
2. It costs very little to:
- Run brainstorm meetings
- Evaluate and select the best ideas
- Build models and prototypes
- Ask customers to evaluate your prototype products or services
- Implement small incremental innovations in your products, services, and methods
- Empower people to try more initiatives in their areas
- Investigate new collaborations. Partnerships, ideas, and products
3. It can cost a lot of money to:
- Roll out major new products or services
- Try an entirely new business model
Consider doing a lot of items from Category 1. Generate many ideas from all sources – it costs very little. Without looking into new processes and products, your company may find itself falling behind its competitors.
You should do a few things from Category 2. Move the best ideas to the prototype stage and evaluate them but kill them if necessary. Yes, there will be some talent, time and money spent doing this but if you really want to begin expanding your business, you must decide to do more than just talking about new innovative products and processes.
You should think long and hard about items from Category 3 but be prepared to allocate some of your scarce resources in this area. Moving into this phase can only happen if the idea survived the first two stages. Jumping from the idea gathering stage to the final stage of implementation while bypassing everything in the middle will, in most cases, prove detrimental to your business.
Innovation involves making smart moves. Sometimes those moves fail, but if the off-site housing industry is to stay competitive with all the alternative ideas being promoted lately, such as 3D printing, improved panelization and automated on-site construction, it has to be innovative. Innovation is not free, but it can be done with slender means if we adopt this three-stage approach.
