Civil Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
CASE STUDY 2: JAPAN
During the last couple of generations, the Japanese have rapidly developed their
country into one of the richest nations in the world and much of this success is
attributed to Japan's active construction sector. Indeed, Japan is worthy of a case
study not only because the Japanese construction industry is extremely efficient in
terms of output, but also because the sector has proved to be 'unusually profitable'
(Constructing Excellence 2010).
In advanced industrialised economies, construction rarely accounts for more
than 10 per cent of GDP. However, during the 1990s, Japanese construction - in
the narrowest sense - accounted for about 12 per cent of GDP. The Japanese
construction industry is in fact characterised by many exceptional features. Here we
just give three of the most significant examples.
•
The majority of commercial buildings are constructed for owner-occupiers
rather than for speculative developers.
•
The relationship between general contractors, specialist subcontractors,
labourers and clients is frequently characterised in terms of collaboration and
integration rather than conflict and fragmentation. In an analysis of the Japanese
construction sector, Reeves (2002: 421) even goes as far as suggesting that the
whole mechanism in the sector 'operates to provide mutual benefit to all of the
players involved'.
•
Firms compete on the basis of technology, in contrast to the usual price-based
competition that drives the construction process.
It is this third point that makes Japan's construction industry unique. In most
countries, construction is regarded as traditional, conservative, labour intensive
and not particularly interested in innovation; in Japan, it is quite the opposite. The
Japanese government regards 'hi-tech intelligent' buildings as central both to the
nation's infrastructure and to the development of a knowledge-based economy. It
therefore promotes technology use in the management of a building.
Technology is also embraced at the site level, where the construction of all
buildings utilises prefabrication, robotics, automation and information technology.
Indeed, 'computer integrated construction' is already a key part of the corporate
policy of several major Japanese contractors. For example, Toyota the car
manufacturer is also responsible for the building of about 5,000 houses each year.
The metal-framed prefabricated modules are 85 per cent completed before they leave
the factory, are more or less defect free and guaranteed for 60 years. The total time
from taking an order to the final completion on site is typically around 25 days,
making for a very fast process that uses the minimum of on-site time and labour;
in fact once the foundations have been laid construction of the house on-site takes
around 12 hours. A sharp contrast to the traditional timber- or block-framed house
that would take 12 weeks to build on site.
As Professor David Gann (2000: 113) explains in his analysis of innovation and
change in the global construction market: 'Rich Japanese companies invested heavily
in electronic technologies for their new buildings. Moreover, government played
