Why AEC professionals are embracing Design for Manufacturing & Assembly
For decades, automotive plants have set the gold standard for efficiency and precision, manufacturing thousands of identical components every day. Meanwhile, construction sites often typically deal with one-off designs, fragmented processes and unpredictable outcomes.
But in a sector grappling with rising material costs, labor shortages and tightening sustainability expectations, the time is ripe for change. It’s no longer a question of if, but when construction will fully embrace the manufacturing principles that have transformed other industries.
Against this backdrop, Design for Manufacturing & Assembly (DfMA) has emerged as both an innovative philosophy and a proven solution for the built environment. DfMA reimagines building delivery as a streamlined, industrialised process with manufacturing expertise embedded from day one.
This paradigm shift is more than just theory. The Covid-19 pandemic starkly demonstrated DfMA’s impact: modular hospitals were assembled in weeks rather than months, thanks to designs that accounted for prefabrication, logistics and assembly from the outset.
Singapore’s pioneering Prefabricated Prefinished Volumetric Construction (PPVC) programme has further emphasised how this approach reduces risk, costs and construction time on large-scale massive residential developments.
Structural foundations: The three pillars of DfMA success
Organisations seeing the greatest benefits from DfMA do so by adhering to three core principles:
1. Component standardisation:
Repetition and simplification through standardised building components reduce complexity, minimise errors and drive down both manufacturing and assembly costs.
2. Optimisation for prefabrication:
Designing with factory production in mind empowers teams to leverage controlled environments for greater quality, precision and speed, while transforming on-site assembly into a swift, streamlined process.
3. Early, integrated collaboration:
From architects to fabricators, all stakeholders participate in the design process from the very start. This alignment ensures that costly clashes, rework and missed production cues are resolved before they become project delays.
With these pillars in place, project teams experience fewer errors, faster schedules, higher-quality builds and greater cost predictability.
Digital innovation: Bridging the gap from plan to production
To fully realise DfMA’s potential, specialised digital tools are essential.
Traditionally, building designs have been created in isolation and then forced to fit manufacturing constraints, often with frustrating or expensive results.
Modern software platforms turn this workflow on its head by embedding manufacturing intelligence and real-world constraints directly into Building Information Models (BIM) at the earliest stages.
Today’s integrated design environments are able to model not only form and function but also the specific requirements of production lines, such as mesh welding parameters for precast elements or exact assembly sequences for steel connections. This early-stage intelligence transforms design intent into deliverables that are immediately manufacturable and buildable.
Crucially, software platforms now also support seamless collaboration across trades, leveraging cloud technology for real-time updates and ensuring that every digital stakeholder is operating from the same, always-current set of data. Open standards and direct interfaces with Manufacturing Execution Systems (MES) allow models to travel from the laptop to the shop floor without manual translation or data loss.
DfMA in practice: The Hatzel & Buehler case
A shining example of DfMA in action comes from the US, where Hatzel & Buehler, one of the nation’s largest electrical contractors, is redefining efficiency in prefabrication by leveraging MANUFACTON.
As their operations scaled, the company faced complexities: fragmented information, paper-based processes and limited visibility across design, shop and field teams.
©Hatzel & Buehler
By adopting MANUFACTON, Hatzel & Buehler unified data flow, providing real-time tracking of assemblies, automated production orders direct from BIM and digital quality assurance checks.
The impact has been remarkable. Teams now collaborate using centralised digital dashboards rather than chasing paper drawings, enabling clear schedules and streamlined installation workflows.
Manual processes and repetitive admin tasks have been eliminated, saving more than three hours per week per branch. This time is now reinvested in project execution and quality, directly supporting DfMA principles of standardisation, collaboration and efficiency.
Hatzel & Buehler’s experience highlights how advanced fabrication management tools are bridging the gap between design and manufacturing, delivering measurable results in speed, accuracy and client satisfaction.
Looking forward: The new competitive imperative
Companies that are positioning themselves for the future are doing more than just adopting DfMA principles; they are also investing in the digital tools that make those principles practical. They’re assembling teams with a manufacturing mindset to solve construction challenges. They’re establishing processes that provide the predictability, quality and efficiency required by modern construction.
Ready to put DfMA principles into action? Download the free eBook Unlocking the Secrets of DfMA and access practical strategies, real-world case studies and expert insights.
*Please note that this is a commercial profile.
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