The success or failure of a company can be attributed to various factors: time contributes a thousand parts, company strategy a hundred, governance ten, and management one.
This analogy also applies to the industrialization of construction (prefabricated buildings). In this context, the policy background plays the largest role—a thousand parts—followed by industry governance at a hundred, organizational management at ten, and professional technology at one.
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| Where is the problem? |
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The Policy Background: A Thousand
As an industry expert once said: the debate around prefabricated buildings is no longer if or how much to build, but about how to do it well.
From the perspective of national-level strategic design, the industrialization of construction is an irreversible trend; this is beyond doubt.
Industry Governance: A Hundred
In a previous article, “The Difficulties and Breakthroughs of Prefabricated Buildings,” the author highlighted the core challenge: the traditional industry chain is fragmented. Design firms, construction teams, precast component manufacturers, and parts suppliers each operate independently, with no one able to oversee the entire process or nurture the necessary talent.
Under these traditional mechanisms, projects encounter delays, profits are scarce, and talent development stalls. Consequently, the reputation of prefabricated projects deteriorates, making breakthroughs even more elusive. Without a proper structure, nothing else can succeed.
Organizational Management: Ten
It isn’t hard for one individual to grasp assembly techniques, but the challenge lies in getting an entire team to understand them. A single department can advance assembly projects, but achieving organizational consensus and collaboration is far more difficult. Success inside a company is one thing, but facilitating effective collaboration and mutual benefits with external partners is another challenge altogether.
Choosing the right objectives and executing them well depends heavily on effective organizational management and highly skilled professional managers.
Professional Skills Matter
Building a house is generally not considered high-tech; regardless of packaging, it rarely reaches the complexity of a pure science. Instead, it is primarily an applied engineering discipline that uses knowledge and experience to solve practical problems. The same is true for prefabricated “new technologies” — mastering the technology is only the entry-level requirement in this industry.
Furthermore, acquiring new knowledge is not overly difficult for industry veterans. A single comprehensive study is usually enough; repeating the learning process systematically is rarely necessary. Within this mindset, the “thousand” factor is solid—a strong advantage for the industry. New knowledge acquisition is already a competitive edge, and with time, skills continue to improve. The real challenges lie in the “hundreds” and “tens”.
The traditional management mindset remains deeply ingrained. To avoid disrupting “tradition,” the simplest approach has been to insert “assembly-style” practices into inconspicuous parts of the traditional framework. This means processes don’t change, management methods remain the same, and organizations don’t need to adapt. Work continues as usual, but the results fail to meet expectations.
At the project level, when evaluating cost, schedule, and quality targets, can these metrics withstand scrutiny? From industrialized construction to prefabrication and assembly, if long-term costs increase without tangible benefits and consumer confidence fails to build, the industry risks a damaged reputation. Taking the easiest path may ultimately lead to a dead end.
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| Who Holds the Key Role? |
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Who plays the most crucial role in advancing assembly projects? Is it the design institute? The construction firm? Or the component manufacturer? The answer is no.
First, due to differing perspectives and interests, each party only holds a partial view and is motivated by distinct demands. Following any one perspective alone risks leading the project astray.
Second, relying on all parties to collaboratively piece together the full picture (such as through EPC or general contracting) is unrealistic within the short development timeframe.
In contrast, the construction party holds clear advantages and urgent needs.
First, the construction team naturally possesses a panoramic view of the project and understands the final goal. By optimizing resource allocation and organization, they ensure the project proceeds correctly with minimal cost—their role is irreplaceable.
Second, the construction party’s resources and supporting industrial chain may vary or remain incomplete. However, they face problems directly, as project success or failure ultimately affects them most, and their responsibility is unavoidable.
Third, most importantly, the construction party is the true “engine” with a hematopoietic function within the system. Only by successfully delivering projects and gaining market recognition can they share benefits with downstream partners and promote a virtuous cycle within the industry ecosystem.
According to Coase’s Law, the party that minimizes transaction costs and maximizes social benefits bears greater responsibility.
Therefore, the construction unit is the key role. Excelling at this “ten” level enables progress at the “hundred” level. While the “hundred” and “thousand” levels remain important, addressing the “ten” is the essential first step.
The industrialization of construction is a complex system engineering challenge with countless details and seemingly no clear starting point. To tackle this, we should analyze problems from the perspective of key roles, adopt customer-centric thinking, and identify breakthrough points.
Compared to technical aspects, construction parties focus more on how to allocate capital and resources effectively to maximize the benefits of prefabricated housing. Their demands include:
- At the planning stage: clearly identifying systemic risks posed by industrialization rules and implementing preventive management measures;
- During project execution: ensuring stable, controllable costs under new construction methods;
- Delivering high-quality products within preset construction schedules;
- Gaining market recognition to ultimately achieve profitability.
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| How to Solve the Problem? |
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Given current conditions, prefabricated whole-process consulting services precisely address these needs. Regardless of whether design, production, and construction are separated or mature, these services assist the construction party by integrating the entire industry chain with extensive experience.
They provide strong technical support for cost control and feasibility assessment throughout the process, mitigating systemic risks and ensuring smooth, controllable progress of prefabricated projects.
This approach effectively solves the “ten” level problem at the individual project level.
But what about the “hundred” level? Should we wait for full industrial chain integration, a wealth of industrial talents, and upgrades in the construction industry?
In reality, the answer lies with us: we cannot isolate ourselves from the industry, expecting a top-down governance mechanism to emerge spontaneously amid the “thousand” level policy background.
We are the main force driving this industry forward. By accumulating practical experience, we can propose systematic, bottom-up solutions that eventually evolve into effective industry governance mechanisms.
At the execution level, this means excelling at every aspect of the “ten”: ensuring effective control over every prefabricated project we manage, fostering a virtuous cycle of profitability and partnership, and injecting vitality into industrialization.
As more prefabricated projects succeed, the resulting knowledge and experience will benefit the entire industry, cultivate talent, and lay a stronger foundation for industrialization.
The so-called “hundred” level industry governance mechanism is not a fixed outcome but an ongoing process: the promotion and application of methodologies distilled from rich practical experience.
The industrialization of construction is currently in its golden age and a critical turning point. Recognizing the key role (the construction party), applying the right methods (leveraging whole-process consulting), and addressing core challenges (meeting homeowner needs) are essential to upgrading the industry and overcoming present difficulties.
Editor in Chief: Pino
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