Critical Success Factors (CSFs) for Implementation of Automation and Robotics in Malaysia’s Industrialised Building System (IBS)

Abstract

The use of automation and robotics in IBS commonly deals with uncertainties and complexities, thus requiring strategies to achieve successful results. Despite the support and assistance from various government departments and private sector for the development of automation and robotics in IBS, this has been the subject of very few studies. Nevertheless, there is increasing awareness among the IBS stakeholders of the use of automation and robotics to influence IBS project success. Thus, this study is carried out to identify the Critical Success Factors (CSFs) and determine the relationship between identified CSFs with successful use of automation and robotics in Malaysian IBS, indirectly developing the CSFs conceptual model. The conceptual model is composed by exogenous latent variables (LVs); namely Strategy, People, Process and Technologies and one endogenous LV which is Success Criteria for Automation and Robotics in Malaysian IBS. The study presents empirical evidence from a survey in Klang Valley, where 201 sets of questionnaires were analysed using PLS-SEM to test the conceptual model. The indicators for these enablers and result criteria were extracted from the past literature and by a pilot study. The finding indicates that Strategy (β=0.151; t-value=1.749), Process (β=0.524; t-value=5.432) and Technology (β=0.175; t-value=2.11) have a significant relationship with the successful use of automation and robotics in IBS. However, the People element (β=-0.006; t-value=0.078) was found to have a statistically insignificant relationship, thus suggesting the moderating role for this element as a topic for future research.