China: China's prefabricated building industry gains concrete traction.

Storyline China's prefabricated building industry gains concrete traction In China, homes are rolling off production lines just like cars. At this industrial park in Huizhou City, south China’s Guangdong Province, modular production has turned homebuilding into an assembly-line process. Almost all components, from ceilings and walls to waterproof bathroom flooring systems, are precision-fabricated in the factory, ready for seamless on-site installation. Wang Qiong, chief engineer, China State Construction Hailong Technology Company Limited: "Just like automobile making, some components and parts for making prefabricated buildings are first produced separately on the second or third floor. Then, they are assembled on the production line with highly automated welding robotic arms. After that, the assembled structures will enter the fitting production line. The annual delivery capacity of this park is approximately 20,000 to 30,000 modules." The key difference? Speed. The traditional way of homebuilding is a step-by-step process: scaffold, bricks, plaster, one after another. But here, everything happens in parallel. That, combined with automated warehouses and intelligent production lines, slashes construction time by more than 60 percent. Still, experts caution that this approach requires a shift in thinking even in the design stage. Zhan He, executive director, Designing Institute, China State Construction Hailong Technology Company Limited : "Once it enters industrial production, it cannot be repeatedly adjusted. Therefore, the design needs to be more meticulous than the traditional design. The positions of each steel bar and even a screw must be precisely positioned. We control its error and precision in millimeters." According to market research firm MarketsandMarkets, the global prefabricated building market is projected to top 142 billion U.S. dollars by 2030. [Restrictions: No access Chinese mainland]