Hussein Mohamed, Zayed Tarek
Department of Building and Real Estate, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong.
J Clean Prod. 2021 Feb 15;284:124716. doi: 10.1016/j.jclepro.2020.124716. Epub 2020 Oct 19.
Modular integrated construction (MiC) is a revolutionary construction method. However, the logistics management of MiC has always been a major barrier to the wider adoption of MiC. Nonetheless, this challenge can be tackled by the application of lean techniques, namely, just-in-time (JIT). Numerous studies have identified and evaluated the critical factors (CFs) required to implement JIT; however, there is no consensus among the previous studies on these CFs and their level of importance. Therefore, this research, for the first time, provides a systematic review and meta-analysis of these CFs. The systematic review identifies 42 CFs. To further provide a synthesis analysis of previous studies, a meta-analysis approach is used. This analysis is conducted on the identified CFs to evaluate their importance level and hence rank them. The results indicate that all the 42 CFs are important for applying JIT, of which seven are highly significant for successfully implementing JIT in MiC. Although the ranking obtained by meta-analysis is much more reliable than that provided in the individual studies, however, there is still a high heterogeneity in the results, which depicts the uncertain nature of the construction field. Therefore, sub-group analysis is conducted to investigate this heterogeneity and uncover the hidden patterns in the literature. This is achieved by studying the influence of predictive factors (moderators) on the importance level of CFs. This analysis shows that the economy of a country and the type of project executed are influential factors. The results further indicate that developing economies, in contrast to advanced economies, should pay more attention to three CFs. Also, the results show that seven CFs are much more important in MiC projects than the other project types. This research work is highly beneficial for theory development and for practitioners by identification of significant CFs that warrant management dedication to best apply JIT. Researchers, in particular, can consider the recommendations given here for implementing future meta-analysis studies.
模块化集成建筑（MiC）是一种革命性的建筑方法。然而，MiC的物流管理一直是其更广泛应用的主要障碍。尽管如此，通过应用精益技术，即准时制（JIT），这一挑战是可以解决的。众多研究已经识别并评估了实施JIT所需的关键因素（CFs）；然而，先前的这些研究对于这些CFs及其重要性水平并未达成共识。因此，本研究首次对这些CFs进行了系统综述和荟萃分析。该系统综述识别出了42个CFs。为了进一步对先前的研究进行综合分析，采用了荟萃分析方法。对识别出的CFs进行此分析，以评估它们各自的重要性水平并进行排序。结果表明，所有42个CFs对于应用JIT都很重要，其中有七个对于在MiC中成功实施JIT具有高度显著性。尽管通过荟萃分析获得的排名比个别研究所提供的排名可靠得多，然而，结果中仍然存在高度的异质性，这描绘了建筑领域的不确定性本质。因此，进行了亚组分析以研究这种异质性并揭示文献中的隐藏模式。这是通过研究预测因素（调节变量）对CFs重要性水平的影响来实现的。该分析表明，一个国家的经济状况和所执行项目的类型是影响因素。结果进一步表明，与发达经济体相比，发展中经济体应更加关注三个CFs。此外，结果表明，七个CFs在MiC项目中比其他项目类型更为重要。本研究工作对于理论发展以及从业者识别值得管理层致力于最佳应用JIT的重要CFs非常有益。特别是研究人员，可以考虑此处给出的建议以开展未来的荟萃分析研究。
