Continuous Improvement Cells in the Highways Supply Chain: Benefits and Challenges

Continuous Improvement (CI) cells have been in effect as part of the Lean process improvement initiative in the highways supply chain since the late 2000s. CI cells have been deployed within a number of teams across Highways England since 2014. Highways England has a headline target of time savings of 5% as a result of the deployment of CI cells within these teams. This Highways England sponsored research report presents CI cell benefits and challenges captured from Highways England, the highways supply chain and Network Rail between July and November 2016. Quantitative and qualitative evidence were found as to the following CI cell benefits.