To remain competitive, single-family wooden house builders might create smart wooden house factories. Smart factories and smart production are recent concepts used to denote ideas that support competitiveness in for example the automotive industry. In the housing sector, a concept introduced to increase competitiveness is industrialized house-building. The aim of the study presented here was to investigate whether industrialized house-building characteristics could be a step toward a smart factory for wooden house builders. In this paper, ideas of the smart wooden house factory are synthesized, and challenges for the single-family wooden house builder are identified. The study is founded on empirical data from one single-case study. A challenge identified was the maturity level of the culture and organization to commit to and utilize modern technology and modern working methods. The concept of the smart wooden house factory is still in its infancy and needs further research.

Swedish house building companies currently face many challenges in terms of fluctuating market demand, need for flexible product offering, non-uniform governmental regulations, high costs, and long lead times. These challenges affect both internal and external efficiency of companies. Product platforms have been used for more than a decade in this industry to improve both internal and external efficiency. However, the industry is still criticized for its inefficient and costly process. Smart manufacturing has emerged as means to improve the efficiency of internal processes and the question is if and how smart manufacturing can complement and support product platforms in industrialized house building. The aim of this study is to explore the potential of smart manufacturing to complement and support product platforms in theory and practice in the context of industrialized house building. A literature review and a multiple case study were chosen to fulfill the study objective. In total fourteen semi-structured interviews were conducted in two timber house building companies. The data was analyzed within and across cases using four platform assets for categorization: components, processes, knowledge and relationships. The results show that the smart manufacturing technologies are in both theory and practice mainly supporting the process platform asset through developing vertical and horizontal IT systems integration, definition and digitalization of flexible building systems, and transferring explicit drafting and engineering knowledge into parametric modelling tools.

Purpose: The meaning of Industry 4.0 has started to be outlined for the construction industry, but there is still limited knowledge on the implications for the single-family wooden house building industry. The purpose of this paper is to expand the understanding of what the fourth industrial revolution implies for the single-family wooden house industry. The paper contributes with practitioners’ view of the content and meaning of a smart single-family wooden house factory.

Design/methodology/approach: An exploratory multiple case study was carried out at two Swedish single-family wooden house builders, combined with a traditional literature review.

Findings: As a result of a multiple case studies, the content and meaning of a smart single-family wooden house factory was elaborated on. In total, 15 components of a smart single-family wooden house factory were identified, of which 8 corresponded to the components of Industry 4.0 as described in other sectors.

Research limitations/implications: The study can be expanded to also include multi-family wooden house builders and other branches of the offsite wooden building industry.

Practical implications: Managers in the house-building industry who want to improve and strive for a smart single-family wooden house factory can learn from this study, get an insight of what other companies consider as important and how it relates to Industry 4.0.

Originality/value: To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is a first attempt to understand what Industry 4.0 mean and how it can be accomplished for the single-family wooden house offsite manufacturing industry.

A fourth industrial revolution is prophesied, and there is a potential for the industrialized world to proactively adapt suitable practices. Despite the large interest from both industry and academia, a drawback with the vast literature on initiatives that tap into the fourth industrial revolution, Industry 4.0 and alike, is the fuzziness when it comes to terminology and content. The terms are mixed up, and sometimes used interchangeable and the constituent parts are not fully described. The purpose of this paper is to present the content of initiatives related to the fourth industrial revolution in a structured manner. This is expected to support understanding for the content of the fourth industrial revolution and thereby facilitate the transformation. The results presented in this paper is based on a traditional literature review. In total 13 relevant review papers were identified. The identified papers were analyzed, and a framework was developed including technologies and design principles. In total, eleven technologies and twelve design principles were identified for Industry 4.0. The most frequently occurring technologies were Cyber physical systems, Internet of Things, and Big data. The most frequently occurring design principles were Smart factory, Service orientation and Sustainability and resource efficiency. A categorization of the content into technologies and design principles clarify and structures the content of Industry 4.0. The developed framework can support academics in identifying, describing, and selecting Industry 4.0 scenarios for further investigations. For practitioners, the framework can give a basic understanding and some guidance in their implementation journey of Industry 4.0.