Conceptual Approach for a Digital Value Creation Chain Within the Timber Construction Industry – Potentials and Requirements

Abstract

AbstractThis paper addresses the megatrend of urbanization as well as the associated challenges of climate change and its relation to sustainable manufacturing. An enormous lever for improving the climate balance is offered by the consistent use of renewable building materials. In the Berlin/Brandenburg metropolitan region, wood as a building material in particular should play a central role in achieving the climate targets. To realize this, it is not only necessary to use the potential of wood as a raw material for storing carbon, but also to embed wood construction in regional value chains and integrated digital production systems in order to be able to optimally design innovative value creation fields, new regional products and efficient material cycles for increasing sustainability. In the context of this work, the information flows along the value chain are investigated and transferred into a digital model. Existing digital concepts such as the “Open BIM” approach (Building Information Modeling) have been incorporated and shape the entirety of the value chain module developed in this paper for serial prefabrication in multi-story timber construction. Material and information flows are analyzed, interfaces between the actors are identified, value-adding factors of timber system construction are systematically examined for their effects, and industrial prefabrication is aligned with a digital model.