ABSTRACT
Japanese prefabrication and construction automation are often presented as genius and advanced strategies that were developed by companies, innovators and governmental institutions in the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s. Often it is also discussed why large-scale industrialisation and automated construction have only been successfully applied in Japan, and why innovators in other locations and environments cannot manage to build up similar structures. One helpful contribution to these discussions and questions can be given by an evolutionary view on the subject. Just as Takahiro Fujimoto describes today’s performance of the Toyota Production System as a consequence of evolution (Fujimoto, 1999), the existence of large-scale and highly automated prefabrication of individual buildings in the Japanese housing industry can be described as the outcome of a long-term learning and development process. Japan’s advanced prefabrication industry has been formed by a combination of continuous incremental and disruptive innovations and a unique socio-economic and socio-cultural environment (desire for new, fast changing markets; earthquakes; reduced human resources; service attitude) stepwise over time.
