Literature review

1.4 Disadvantages of IBS

I. High initial capital cost

 The initial capital cost of IBS is usually high which include the cost of
constructing the factory, casting beds and support machinery. The cost
effectiveness can only be achieved when undertaking large projects.

I. Problem of Joints
 Water leakage is often the major problem in building constructed using IBS.
This problem is more obvious in Malaysia where raining occur rapidly
through out the year.

II. Sophisticated plants and skilled operators.

 The prefabrication system relies heavily on sophisticated plants, which Hve
to be well coordinated and maintained by skilled operators. Breakdown in
any one section would hold-up the entire production line.

III. Site accessibility

 Site accessibility is one of the most important factors of the implementation
of IBS. IBS requires adequate sit accessibility to transport IBS components
from factory to the site.

IV. Large working area

 Building construction using IBS requires a large working area for the
factory, trailers, tower-cranes and storage for the IBS components.
Besides, most construction sites especially in cities are often congested
and unable to provide the area required.
1.5 Perception towards IBS

Perceptions towards IBS Changing people’s mindset in-terms of their perception

towards IBS adoption is one of the critical success factors to enhance the IBS
implementation in Malaysia. Despite its many benefits promoted, the different perceptions
among the stakeholders has led to the low usage of IBS components in the construction
industry. Nevertheless, since the beginning of the IBS introduction to the Malaysian
construction industry and its promises to solve and improve the current construction
method and scenario in the country, poor perception amongst the construction
stakeholders towards it, is an issue which greatly contributes to the low usage of IBS
components. Thus, it led to the term “IBS” being misinterpreted with negative conception.

The reason that contribute to the negative conception of IBS term is past failures
and unattractive architecture. These buildings are normally associated with low quality
buildings, leakages, abandoned projects, unpleasant architectural appearances and other
drawbacks. Due to the poor architectural design, the old pre-fabricated buildings have
given the public, the bad impression about precast concrete. Customer rejection is the
main fear of clients in implementing the IBS. On the other hand; even the construction
professionals are uncertain with IBS technology and relate IBS with potential post-
construction problems. Scholars agreed that the negative perception towards IBS is based
on the historical failure of off-site practices to deliver improved performance, technical
difficulties (e.g. Site specifics, delivery issues, interfacing problems and cost), lack of
opportunities for benefiting from economies of scale, structural requirements associated
with social, security, privacy and noise problems and the fragmented structure of the
construction supply chain.

Additionally, most of the industry stakeholders are reluctant to change to the new
construction method as they have to embrace new ways of thinking and working. On the
other hand, the client prefers the risk averse attitude to avoid any upcoming difficulties
related to IBS application. At the same time, most of the contractors are already
convenient and familiar with the traditional method since the technology suits them well,
changing to industrialized construction means that the additional cost of labour training
and new machineries required. Therefore, investment in human capital development is
vital in order to gain the experience, enhance the technical knowledge and training on
skilled labour. On the other hand, the people’s perception also plays an important role to
achieve desired IBS adoption. Amongst the example of poor perception in IBS are: IBS is
not popular among architects and designers due to misconception that IBS will eventually
limiting their creativity in building design and as for building users, IBS buildings are fragile
and impermanent structure, IBS building also seen as non-renovated. Thus, it makes IBS
based building as a non-popular choice in attracting the buyer or tenant in the future.
Therefore, changing the people mindset and perception in relation to IBS usage is also an
important issue to consider.
1.6 IBS Implementation and Sustainability

According to Construction Industry Development Board (CIDB) (2003), IBS is

defined as a construction technique, which components are manufactured in a controlled
environment (on or off site). At the same time, they are transported, positioned and
assembled into a structure without too much extra site works. Meanwhile, as stated the
five standard characteristics of IBS are prefabrication, offsite production, mass production,
standardised components and design using modular coordination. These characteristics
have the potential to enhance sustainability performance for the building constructed.
However, proper planning and strategies are required in dealing with this to prevent
unnecessary additional cost, unpleasant community disturbance and decrement of
environment performance.

The effective compliance of sustainable development should include

environmental, economic, social, and institutional criteria. One of the main environmental
benefits of IBS is that construction processes can be transferred from the site to a much
better controlled factory condition. As commonly agreed, one of the natural aspects of
conventional on-site work is the intense activities, which cause constant nuisances to local
communities such as disorganized environment, traffic chaos, noise and air pollution put
across that the average wastage reduction level through the implementation of IBS is
about 52%. This is a rather remarkable rate compared to constructions without IBS
operation. On the whole, IBS is accountable for the significant reduction of wastages and
this can be the catalyst to the sustainability in construction as well as the way to reduce
the natural resources consumption.

Subsequently, the environment and its inhabitants will be the fortunate beneficiary
of this well planned, considered and managed system. Meanwhile, believe that amongst
the objectives of a construction project are to ensure the financial affordability to the
stakeholders and clients, employment opportunities, competitiveness, and maintain the
needs of future generations. This can certainly be achieved by incorporating IBS in the
project as IBS does not only benefit the environment, it also promises profitable returns to
the stakeholders and clients. IBS projects can be more profitable than the non-IBS ones
as they can reduce the use of concrete and reinforce the structural components.
Simultaneously, IBS can provide a good collaboration between the participants, who can
be anywhere in the world. The global organizations can have the continuous production
using the same methods, knowledge and experiences, which have the possibility of
reducing the involved cost. Although some may think that the critical investment in the
early process is very high, once the break-even point is attained, the benefits from the
industrialisation will significantly increase with the number of units produced. Therefore, it
is possible for the developers or stakeholders to decrease their expenditure so that they
have extra money in their bank account as well as the future profits.

The IBS also contributes to the social aspect by improving the quality of human
life, skills training and capacity enhancement of the disadvantaged. Besides, it also seeks
fair and equitable distribution of construction social costs and intergenerational equity).
The IBS has the potential to support local communities by diversifying the economy and
creating more local employment opportunities. This can happen through the production of
the building materials and components in the factory. This process will without doubt,
reduce the amount of time on-site and lead to fewer detrimental impacts and disruption on
the locality. In the meantime, IBS has also been identified by the researchers as an
approach to lessen the transportation frequency and on-site labours during the
construction stage.

Evidently, sustainability in construction and IBS technique are beneficial to the

people, particularly and the country, on the whole. This can happen in countries like
Malaysia where due to the shortage of labours, the construction industry is forced to import
huge numbers of unskilled workers, who could unfortunately cause some problems such
as incompetency, delays in completion of the projects, social problems and wastages. As
a solution to this, it is confirmed that IBS can bring about the labour reduction and site co-
ordination activity. Hence, on account of the above advantages it is possible to say that
IBS is one of the main strategies to overcome most of the problems in development
projects and it can also promote the sustainability in construction.