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Discover how Design for Manufacturing and Assembly (DfMA) is revolutionizing battery plant construction in this insightful piece by Asia-Pacific Lead, Adam Jordan.
At Bryden Wood, our work spans many sectors at the leading edge of technological innovation. One rapidly growing sector with a pivotal role in the global energy transition is the construction of lithium-ion battery manufacturing plants for electric vehicles (EVs).
Battery manufacturers such as CATL, BYD, LG Energy Solution, Panasonic, and others are expanding their portfolios of complex new gigafactories. These facilities handle chemicals, metals, and intermediate products with stringent safety and environmental control requirements, often in direct partnership with carmakers like GM and Tesla.
The costs and timescales associated with constructing such facilities are immense.
The potential benefits of Design for Manufacturing and Assembly (DfMA) in construction are well documented. At Bryden Wood, DfMA has been integral to our approach for more than 30 years, delivering tangible benefits across various sectors.
DfMA reduces overall cost and time (30% reductions are not uncommon), improves labor productivity, reduces labor requirements, and enhances sustainability by minimizing waste, maximizing material efficiency, and reducing embodied carbon. Our platform approach to DfMA has demonstrated the potential to transform the way buildings are delivered at scale.
However, the unique challenges of constructing battery factories require careful planning for DfMA to fulfill its promise.
Successfully realizing the benefits of DfMA is not easy, especially for complex projects like battery factories. Simply converting a design into prefabricated parts can add logistical complexity, transport costs, and supply chain fragmentation, while also forcing design compromises.
The key to successful DfMA is embedding the mindset early on, rather than identifying small prefabrication opportunities late in the process.
For DfMA to deliver its full value, the right team must be in place from the start, including designers, specialist consultants, the client, the general contractor, and the supply chain. Clients must understand the challenges and believe in the approach. The targeted benefits of DfMA should guide workflows, approvals, and decision-making from the outset.
To maximize the benefits of DfMA, plants must first be designed rationally and efficiently. Without a well-designed building, the DfMA approach will be applied to an inefficient design, diluting its benefits or even introducing costs and complexity.
Battery plants typically have huge footprints to accommodate the linear assembly process. However, requirements vary across different process stages. For example:
• Early stages often involve vertical material transfer (e.g., wet chemicals).
• Later stages require significant ventilation, heat rejection, and cooling.
While designers may aim for uniformity across process areas, this can lead to inefficient and underutilized space.
A more cost-effective approach is to "shrink-wrap" the assembly process. By mapping and right-sizing the spatial, environmental, and material transfer needs of each step, the building can be designed to precisely match its functional requirements. This reduces capital costs, operational costs, and energy use.
Considerations for Right-Sizing:
• Technical and Plant Areas: Avoid over-allocating space. External plant (e.g., containerized for weather protection) can often replace internal areas, saving costs.
• Structural Efficiency: Large spans add significant structural costs. Aligning internal spaces with process equipment minimizes unnecessary spans.
While right-sizing may increase envelope complexity, these costs are typically outweighed by the long-term benefits.
Rationalizing and optimizing the design against process requirements allows for greater use of prefabricated components. Standardizing repeatable design elements can increase prefabrication, including:
• Structural frames and slabs (e.g., precast concrete or steel).
• Panelised wall and roof systems.
• Packaged utility plants (e.g., containerized systems).
• Multi-trade pipe racks and risers.
• Modular staff amenities and welfare areas.
Prefabrication transforms construction into a manufacturing-like process, with pre-assembled components enabling faster, more predictable on-site assembly.
Designers should collaborate with suppliers early to ensure prefabricated components are fit for purpose and deliver intended benefits.
Program acceleration is a key driver for battery plants, where producing the first batches is a critical milestone. Prefabricated components help accelerate construction by allowing work to be completed off-site, ahead of schedule.
However, challenges such as transport and installation of large components (e.g., multi-trade pipe racks) must be addressed early. For instance, lifting pipe racks onto the steel frame before the roof is installed can mitigate logistical challenges.
Equipment installation and commissioning often delay production. To counter this, construction activities should be planned around the commissioning sequence.
Recommendations for Fast Commissioning:
• Prioritize construction of critical production areas.
• Install site-wide utility systems in parallel with critical process areas.
• Design control systems to enable phased commissioning of interconnected sections.
DfMA benefits are maximized when applied across a long-term project pipeline. Standardizing reference designs and pre-manufactured components enables quick adaptation to changes in battery chemistry or manufacturing processes.
As consumer demand for EVs grows, deploying right-sized facilities with standardized design templates and rapid-build DfMA methodologies will help meet increasing battery capacity needs, accelerating the global energy transition.
Learn more about the benefits of Industrialised Construction here.
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