In our previous posts, we have covered what IBS construction is all about and pointed out the potential benefits (1, 2, 3) of using these solutions for your project. However, the question remains: if there are so many advantages to using IBS solutions, why isn’t it more widely adopted in Malaysia?

To answer this question, we had to go searching online. According to a research paper called The adoption of Industrialised Building System (IBS) published by The International Association for Automation and Robotics in Construction, these are the five reasons why IBS hasn’t received widespread adoption in the country.

1. There are not enough incentives for contractors to shift to IBS solutions. And this is because perhaps the benefits in cost savings do not yet outweigh switching to an entirely new system.
2. The availability of cheap foreign labour in Malaysia. This is perhaps set to change as the Pandemic is forcing us to rethink our dependence on a foreign human resource.
3. For IBS operators to become profitable the sizeable investment into the system has to be justified by the size of the market. So, it’s a chicken and egg situation. Before construction companies invest in IBS they need to be sure there is adequate market size, but for better adoption by the market, there needs to be a more widespread choice in IBS operators.
4. The low standardisation of components is also a hindrance to the adoption of IBS. Not all IBS solutions work well together and so it may be difficult to create a project with one system and then to try and use another system to make an extension.
5. There is a supply chain management issue between contractors, manufacturers and suppliers that are not properly managed.

These are just some of the barriers to IBS adoption in the country. On our next post, we will look at how we can overcome these challenges.