Automated system for form layout to increase the proportion of standard forms and improve work efficiency

This paper proposes an automated form layout system that: 1) arranges standard and nonstandard slab-forms automatically to improve work efficiency, and 2) maximizes the proportion of standard forms to reduce manufacturing cost. To accomplish this, the proposed system considers factors such as building shape, connected areas, beams and shores, form size, boundary lines, and layout direction. When applied to six previous construction cases, the proposed layout system is shown to produce a higher proportion of standard to nonstandard form (a maximum of about 23%) than existing methods, which rely on a combination of automated and manual approaches. Furthermore, no more than 31 min are required to determine the layout using the proposed automated system. The proposed system can improve the operational efficiency of form layout, reduce form manufacturing cost, and improve the efficiency of form installation work by increasing the proportion of standard forms used.