Grants and Contributions:

Grant or Award spanning more than one fiscal year (2017-2018 to 2018-2019).

Using advanced technologies and a manufacturing-based approach, ACQBUILT, Inc. carries out homebuildingx000D
operations from design and prefabrication to delivery and onsite assembly. The partner is also a leader inx000D
designing and building energy-efficient homes. To improve the R-value of the wall panels for theirx000D
energy-efficient home product line, they are looking at incorporating both extruded polystyrene rigid andx000D
fibreglass batt insulations to the wall. This energy-efficient design, however, requires additional time and effortx000D
during manufacturing. This adjustment of the engineering design alters the process of manufacturing, decreasesx000D
the productivity of the wall production line, and necessitates adjustments in terms of labour resource allocationx000D
in order to balance the workflow. In addition, the increased variety of structural design of the energy-efficientx000D
wall panels that the partner plans to produce creates a challenge, as data processing will need to be planned in ax000D
manner which provides a complete picture of the differences in time requirements for different products. Thex000D
aim of this research, then, is to find an optimal solution to these problems, establishing an approach to resourcex000D
allocation leveraging real-time production data collected using existing radio-frequency identification (RFID)x000D
infrastructure in the plant. The underlying objective is to develop an optimal predictive algorithm based uponx000D
which to manage resource allocation on the wall production line and improve the productivity of thex000D
prefabrication process for energy-efficient homes. While in current practice most enterprises, includingx000D
ACQBUILT, that use RFID limit its deployment to tracking produced items within their control, furtherx000D
benefits can be derived from the use of RFID. Building on the results of this project, the Canadian constructionx000D
manufacturing sector can benefit from the application of RFID for resource allocation, thereby improvingx000D
production efficiency. The emissions incurred per unit produced of this type of energy-efficient home modelx000D
can also be reduced by decreasing production cycle time, given the fact that industrialized constructionx000D
activities are carried out in an indoor environment.