BuildBlox: A Modular Housing Construction Supply Chain Solution
Enhancing operational efficiency and increasing supply chain transparency within the housing sector.
Project Overview
Updated October 30, 2024.
The Problem
The Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) forecasts that British Columbia will need to add hundreds of thousands of new housing units by 2030.1
While modular housing promises a fast way to deliver quality housing on time, its success hinges on an uninterrupted supply chain. Manufacturers keep skilled laborers on site, and when materials fail to arrive on schedule, production halts and leads to costly delays that affect overall project timelines.
How We Are Solving It
Led by Green Metrics in collaboration with Tandem Solutions, this project will seek to increase supply chain transparency and efficiency via BuildBlox: a procurement support system that provides real-time tracking and proactive notifications to ensure timely material delivery. The system will help modular manufacturers avoid costly production disruptions and delays.
For purchasing officers, the system simplifies tracking purchase orders and delivery schedules. It sends automated reminders to suppliers before delivery, flags non-responses and confirmed delays, enabling purchasing officers to prioritize outreach and find alternatives when necessary. For management, the system offers visibility into how vendor delays might affect project timelines and profitability. Integrated into a larger enterprise resource planning system, it helps prevent time and cost overruns, ultimately enhancing profitability. Granular insights into supply chains also enable the delivery of environmental product declarations.
As vendor materials and components are blended into the housing products, product inventory and picklists are reconciled bringing Work-In-Progress insights to the manufacturing team, while also consolidating the material inventory to measure and validate embodied carbon in the housing units.
By improving supply chain efficiency, BuildBlox will help reduce project costs, enabling faster, more reliable delivery of modular housing. Lower production costs translate to more affordable housing units for consumers. Additionally, by minimizing delays at the purchasing and sourcing stage of projects, the system will enhance the competitiveness of modular manufacturers, positioning them as leaders in the affordable housing market and being able to respond more swiftly to the pressing demand for housing in B.C. communities.
