PROFESSOR DAVID CHUA KIM HUAT
National University of Singapore

Dr. David Chua Kim Huat is a registered professional engineer in Singapore and is currently a Professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the National University of Singapore. He is also Vice Dean of Student Life, Alumni and Development at the Faculty of Engineering. He obtained his PhD degree in 1989 from University of California, Berkeley, USA, majoring in construction management. He has more than 35 years of research and practical experience in the industry.

His research interests in the recent years have been in lean construction, computer integrated and IT-based construction management, BIM, construction simulation, risk management and construction safety. Arising from his research works, he has written over 180 technical publications, editor for two books, and contributed a chapter to two books. He had been a Council Member of the Society of Project Manager from 2001-2005, and is a council member of System Safety Society since 2006. He is appointed member of BCA’s International Panel of Experts on BIM, and was Honorary Fellow of WSHi till 2017. He is also a member of the Construction Research Council, USA and a member of the American Society of Civil Engineers, USA. He had served as the specialty editor for Cost and Scheduling for the Journal of Construction Engineering and Management, ASCE, and serves in the editorial board in other international journals and several international conferences.

Design for Manufacture and Assembly with BIM

Design for Manufacture and Assembly (DfMA) aims at ease of manufacture and assembly efficiency in order to increase overall productivity in construction. With this design approach, waste can be eliminated, construction time can be significantly reduced and cost can be lowered. The DfMA approach in construction will require a tighter integration between design and construction. This integration is enabled by BIM in a Virtual Design Construction (VDC) process that is undergirded by lean principles implementation. The remaining value delivery for the project relies on the logistics between production and construction site. A lean supply chain management from design through production to assembly at site relies on an integrated building information system that is built around BIM and related digital technologies.