100 Factories
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DfDMA
Platform
SME manufacturers operate with small teams and limited capacity and space, a reliance on traditional methods, and lack of technological integration. These challenges make it difficult for them to scale up and they will never be as efficient as a single large factory. However SMEs can work more responsively, more accurately, and with more flexibility. They can operate a model that’s highly adaptive to the realities of today’s construction industry, where schedules change, client demands shift, and supply chains are often unpredictable. Because of this, they are ready to lead the sustainable transition. Their local production helps reduce transportation emissions and can respond to regional construction needs and local, low-carbon material procurement.
DfDMA Platform
To scale collectively they need access to shared tools and platforms that make order processing and collaboration much easier, reducing operational overheads and improving consistency. This project collaborated with a number of SME providers to develop and test a production control framework and a web application for the management and distributed manufacturing of timber building components, from order to delivery, including integrated quality control checks.
How it works
The DfDMA platform works by bringing together an order management system for modular timber components (initially running WikiHouse projects) and an integrated production control system. This takes the form of a web application accessible to manufacturers within the WikiHouse network. It enables these SME workshops to collaborate regionally or nationally to create a larger, distributed supply chain that shares resources, knowledge, and capacity. The platform takes advantage of the Integration of digital technologies (e.g., CNC machines, BIM models) to increase precision and reduce production time in smaller facilities.
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A list of projects specific to each supplier containing details about each project, a list of block and material quantities, and embodied carbon and cost estimates.
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A form-based checklist for recording production control information at different manufacturing and delivery stages and locations.
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A dashboard page for suppliers and manufacturers to set typical pricing and production rates, and oversee reporting.
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A central database of project orders which feeds directly into the Material Passport application, triggered by changes to the project status.
Key features of the material passport system include
100Factories DfDMA-platform-diagram
Manufacturing-process
Who it’s for
The DfDMA platform has been created as a single point-of-entry for SME manufacturers and suppliers in the WikiHouse network. This shared platform allows the network to continue to grow and scale, whilst reducing operational and project management overheads.
Testing of the WikiHouse Production Control Plan partners such as Maahee’s and Woodlab highlighted a key insight: the production control checklist should be digitised. This would allow data – such as moisture readings, dimensional checks, and timestamps – to be centrally stored in a shared database, replacing the current reliance on individual spreadsheets or paper records. We identified that the digitised checklist would only be effective if integrated with an order management platform. This integration would enable SME manufacturers to monitor and update the status of blocks within an order seamlessly, while also simplifying compliance with the production control guidelines. By consolidating everything within a single platform, the barriers to engagement would be significantly reduced, encouraging broader adoption among SME manufacturers using the WikiHouse open-source building system.
Next steps
To date, OSL has developed a proof-of-concept web portal, referred to as the DfDMA platform. The initial version of this platform utilises Airtable as a central database to track all project orders and block metadata, spanning from design through to production and installation. OSL has also created a user-friendly front-end interface that enables the management of project orders, design details, and material specifications. Each project page includes an order-specific production checklist form, organised into distinct production stages, with each stage potentially being completed by different actors in the supply chain. All data and checks from these forms are logged in the central database, ensuring a streamlined and transparent process.
OSL intends to continue the development and testing of the DfDMA platform and production controls in collaboration with the wider WikiHouse provider’s network and third-party certifiers and insurers. The aim is to have a deployable web application (‘WikiHouse as a Service’) that oversees the entire lifecycle of building blocks, from order to delivery, including integrated quality control checks.
From a supplier’s perspective, it will provide standard requirements (e.g. factory setup and quality control guidance), improve the bidding and sales journey for providers as well as customers, and make reporting simpler and easier whilst helping to develop a competitive distributed network.
Meet the Team
