The mass timber supply chain has spent more than a decade proving the product works. Cross-laminated timber panels in mid-rise towers and glulam in major structures. Fire ratings, seismic performance, carbon sequestration. Now, research produced by Michigan State University argues that none of it matters much if the system surrounding the product isn’t built to match.
Led by George H. Berghorn, Modular Mass Timber for Housing Construction, a new research published in the Mass Timber Construction Journal set out to model the critical success factors behind Modular Mass Timber (MMT) adoption in US housing projects.
The team conducted a systematic literature review and semi-structured interviews with industry experts, identifying 15 factors — 7 from published research and 8 from practitioners. Before then, put the lot through Total Interpretive Structural Modelling and MICMAC analysis to determine which factors drive the system and which depend on everything else falling into place.
The findings are blunt.
Sustainability and logistics sit at the top of the hierarchy as the dominant drivers. Time, quality and efficiency sit at the base – foundational, but only activated when the upstream factors are functioning. In short: get your supply chain and carbon story right, or the factory floor advantages of modular mass timber never reach the building site.
“The research aims to identify, evaluate, and model the Critical Success Factors that influence MMT adoption in housing projects in the United States,” according to George H. Berghorn, Kaustubh Thakare and MG Matt Syalthe, who said the findings “offer practical insights to facilitate scalable, cost-effective, and environmentally sustainable housing solutions.”
According to Mass Timber Construction Journal, the research “maps the real drivers behind adoption, not the hype,” and that housing “needs speed, cost control, and carbon discipline” — all of which modular mass timber can deliver, “but only if the industry treats adoption as a system problem, not a product swap.”
Wood Central understands that the research also delivers a strategic implementation guide aimed at developers, designers, manufacturers, and policymakers—a framework for deciding where to allocate effort and capital first. It’s the kind of applied output the sector has been short on whilst the conference circuit continues to celebrate landmark buildings.
For more information: Berghorn, G., Thakare, K., & Syal, M. (2026). Modular Mass Timber for Housing Construction. Mass Timber Construction Journal, 9(1), 1-16. Retrieved from https://www.journalmtc.com/index.php/mtcj/article/view/48.
