Industrialized house building of multi-storey residential buildings is not only gaining practical importance in Sweden but is also emphasized as a way for companies to address the demands for lower and more predictable production costs, shorter delivery times and higher product quality. However, to be competitive on the market, IHB companies need to protect and capitalize their specific investments into platforms and organizations. The engagement inplatforms and industrialized way of working, it is not just about the complexity of integration but it is also about having a capability over time to handle this market variation (i.e. dynamic capabilities). Industrialized house building has mainly been investigated from an operational view, leaving a gap in the characterization from a strategical (dynamic) view. Purpose of this research is to increase understanding about industrialized house building, from a dynamic capability view, described the characteristics of industrialized house building through exploring and describing the evolution and development of and industrialized house building company. An in-depth, longitudinal case study approach was adopted to get and deeper understanding of the development of dynamic capabilities in an industrialized house building company. The unit of analysis was the long-term interaction between house-market development, the case company’s business development, and external collaboration activities between the years 1993 and 2018. The findings from the case study were then analyzed against a theoretical framework based on dynamic capabilities. Industrialized house building can be characterized by a set of dynamic capabilities constructs that are evolved and developed in order to cope with the changing conditions derived from both internal and external factors, entailed in entrepreneurship and long-term thinking. The findings indicate that the organization's focus may vary between different kinds of dynamic capabilities over-time. In addition, findings indicate that development of dynamic capabilities supporting collaboration and building trust to the market was of importance at the beginning of their journey. These dynamic capabilities evolved in close relations with external partners, due to external market pressure. This study also indicates that path dependency affects the development of dynamic capability, through collaboration, trust, and learning – which influence how the company behaves and through their investments in a platform constraining future actions.

To meet the demand of future building requirements, and to improve productivity and competitiveness, there is a need to modernize and revise the current practices in the wooden single-family house industry. In several other sectors, intensive work is being done to adapt to the anticipated fourth industrial revolution. The manufacturing industry has already begun its transformation with concepts such as smart manufacturing and Industry 4.0. So far, smart manufacturing has not been discussed to any significant extent for the wooden single-family house industry, even though it might be a way for this industry to improve productivity and competitiveness. The research presented in this thesis aims at increased knowledge about what smart manufacturing means for the wooden single-family house industry. This requires investigating what smart wooden house manufacturingis, what challenges that might be associated with it, and how smart wooden house manufacturing can be realized. At the core of this thesis is the conceptualization of smart wooden house manufacturing—when realized, it is expected to contribute to improve the competitiveness of the wooden single family house industry. The findings presented here are based on three Research Studies. Two studies were case studies within the wooden single-family house industry. The third study was a traditional literature review. The findings revealed two definitions and 26 components of smart wooden house manufacturing. At large, smart wooden house manufacturing emphasizes digital transformation with a focus on digital information flow, how to add information, information compilation, and information distribution between systems/programs and departments. Some of the challenges associated with smart wooden house manufacturing are, e.g. culture, competence and manual transfer of information between systems. The findings indicate similarities of smart wooden house manufacturing within certain components of industrialized house building and Industry 4.0, these components could enable the realization of smart wooden house manufacturing. / För att möta efterfrågan på framtida byggkrav och för att förbättra produktiviteten och konkurrenskraften finns det ett behov av att modernisera och revidera nuvarande tillvägagångssätt inom träsmåhusindustrin. I flera andra sektorer arbetas det intensivt med att anpassa sig till den förväntade fjärde industriella revolutionen. Tillverkningsindustrin har redan påbörjat sin omvandling med koncept som smart manufacturing och Industry 4.0. Hittills har smart manufacturing inte diskuterats i någon större utsträckning för träsmåhusindustrin, även om det kan vara ett sätt för denna industri att förbättra produktiviteten och konkurrenskraften. Forskningen som presenteras i denna avhandling syftar till ökad kunskap om vad smart manufacturing innebär för träsmåhusindustrin. Detta kräver undersökning av vad smart trähustillverkning är, vilka utmaningar som kan vara förknippade med det och hur smart trähustillverkning kan realiseras. Kärnan i denna uppsats är begreppsframställningen av smart trähustillverkning—när det realiserats förväntas det bidra till att förbättra konkurrenskraften för träsmåhusindustrin. Resultaten som presenteras här är baserat på tre forskningsstudier. Två studier var fallstudier inom träsmåhusindustrin. Den tredje studien var en traditionell litteraturstudie. Resultaten avslöjade två definitioner och 26 komponenter av smart träshustillverkning. Sammanfattningsvis betonar smart trähustillverkning digital transformation med fokus på digitalt informationsflöde, hur man lägger till information, sammanställning av information och informationsfördelning mellan system / program och avdelningar. Några av utmaningarna associerade med smart trähustillverkning är t.ex. kultur, kompetens och manuell överföring av information mellan system. Resultaten indikerar likheter mellan smart träshustillverkning inom vissa komponenter av industriellt husbyggande och Industry 4.0, dessa komponenter skulle kunna möjliggöra realiseringen av smart trähustillverkning.

Industrialized house builders strive towards structure and control of their processes, including design. Such structure is seldom sought for in architectural design practice, where individuality and autonomy are considered essential. This is causing a tension in the construction industry as industrialized house builders and architects strive to improve their collaboration. In this licentiate thesis, a first step towards better understanding this tension is taken by exploring different design approaches from a creativity perspective. The analytical framework builds on a theoretical conceptualization of design approach features, including design task, design process, design organization, and knowledge sharing. A creativity perspective is added using heuristic or algorithmic design tasks; divergent or convergent design processes; autonomy or imposed structure from the design organization; and sole designer or teamwork as the basis for knowledge sharing. This framework is used to analyze four empirically explored design approaches, two focusing on platform development and two focusing on project specific design. Three of these are explored using a case study approach, while the fourth is explored through interviews with multiple architects. The architectural design approach’s features seem likely to facilitate creativity: the design task is mainly heuristic; the design process enables divergence; and the architects have autonomy in how to go about the design process. However, they experience a lack of knowledge sharing, which could further facilitate creativity. The studied standardized design development approach has the opposite features: the design task is mainly algorithmic; the design process facilitates convergence; and there is a clear structure with instructions of how each subtask should be executed. Hence, this design approach is not likely to facilitate creativity (which was also not its intention). The structure has however improved the design team’s knowledge sharing, which is likely to facilitate creativity. The two platform development approaches have a mix of features. Both design tasks are more algorithmic than heuristic and creativity was not expected of the design results. The design processes are clearly convergent. While the house platform development team is multi-functional and work in close collaboration, the design automation platform developers’ knowledge sharing is based on communication with the client’s organization, thus not enabling as many perspectives on the designed product. The design automation platform developers use a support structure with process descriptions and methods to ensure quality, motivated by the variety of platforms that they develop on a regular basis. The house product platform developers on the other hand, were expected to develop only this one platform. Hence, they worked autonomously, using the teamwork setting to progress and converge in the process. In summary, the creative intention seems related to how design is approached. If creativity is sought for, the design task is heuristic, and divergence and autonomy is promoted. If creativity is not sought for, structure seem to facilitate other benefits such as reliability and quality control. Knowledge sharing could however be potentially beneficial in most design approaches. By understanding that different design approaches will influence creativity in different ways, a first step has been taken towards understanding why architects and industrialized house builders approach design differently.