Latin America and the Caribbean are experiencing a severe housing shortage. The construction industry plays a pivotal role in housing provision and must find means to increase output and productivity in housing construction. However, inefficient production techniques, commonly associated with the building industry, exacerbate the problem. Adopting standardization and industrialization practices is seen as an option in scaling up production. Nevertheless, the complex nature of the industry (e.g., the uniqueness of projects and uncertainty) poses challenges when implementing standardization approaches in housing construction. Particularly, formwork standardization requires advanced planning and coordination across project delivery stages. Such synchronization is fundamental to balancing the production flow and optimizing the standardization process. This paper presents the case study of VillaHermosa, an Ecuadorian affordable housing developer exploring formwork standardization in the construction of reinforced concrete housing units. The authors describe their standardization process, the challenges faced by the company, the results and the lessons learned from the experience, as well as a topic for future study
Lean construction, formwork standardization, production flow, production balancing, affordable housing, collaborative design.
Martinez, E. H. , Alvear, A. M. , Tommelein, I. D. & Ballard, G. 2015. Formwork Standardization and Production Flow: Lessons From an Affordable Housing Project in Ecuador, 23rd Annual Conference of the International Group for Lean Construction , 53-59. doi.org/ a >
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