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Offsite construction (OC) is an efficient method to reduce waste in the construction industry from a circular economy perspective. Yet, its uptake is subdued by the ambiguities around its supply chain. Hence, the purpose of this study is twofold: to identify the OC project delivery models, the limitations in their procurement approach to facilitate the resilience of the supply chain and interventions to promote supply chain resilience (SCR) and to identify the gaps in the existing procurement process and propose further research areas that implement strategies to improve SCR.

The study was conducted as a systematic literature review. In total, 41 peer-reviewed research papers published between 2013 and 2023 were shortlisted through the preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analysis guidelines. A descriptive analysis was conducted, followed by a thematic analysis.

The descriptive analysis reveals that the emphasis on digitising OC has shifted to transforming the business model, procurement and supply chain with a human-centric view. In thematic analysis, the predictability of the SC partners and the probabilities of evaluating the prospects are revealed as arbitrary characteristics in the current procurement strategies. Rewarding collaborative relationships among SC partners and incorporating provisions to postpone the module delivery are some interventions to promote flexibility. Drafting comprehensive and effective contracts that address transparency issues and facilitating the need for continuous development of capabilities through procurement are among the further research avenues proposed.

This study is a precursor demonstrating the potential of the procurement process to implement the decrees of SCR for better goal congruence of the OC supply chain.

This paper aims to synthesise the latest literature on supply chain operations of offsite manufacturing in the construction industry to identify and evaluate the uncertainties at each stage of the offsite construction supply chain (OSC-SC) to compile contributions to knowledge and thereby determine the future research directions to improve supply chain resilience (SCR).

The study was conducted as a systematic literature review. In total, 99 peer-reviewed journal papers published between 2015 and mid-2022 were shortlisted and analysed through the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses guidelines.

The bibliometric analysis revealed that the research focusing on supply chain issues and developing best practices in offsite construction adopt case study approaches to investigate the research problems comprehensively. The content analysis revealed the lack of up-to-date knowledge in the construction workforce regarding OSC; low preparedness for the changes brought by the SC uncertainties; the lack of a proper procurement model for OSC; lack of end-to-end visibility of the supply chain to identify uncertainties and lack of national or government standards on OSC-SC, as some of the key problems instigating the identified the uncertainties.

This study clarifies the current knowledge by systematically presenting uncertainties at each stage of the OSC-SC. Moreover, it provides a framework and proposes that future research should focus specifically on individual/team, organisational, supply chain/network and sector/national/supranational levels to improve SCR.