TY - JOUR
T1 - Implementation of continuous improvement cells
T2 - a case study from the civil infrastructure sector in the UK
AU - Tezel, Algan
AU - Koskela, Lauri
AU - Tzortzopoulos, Patricia
N1 - Funding Information:
The researchers would like to thank the case organisation and its employees for their support in the research.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.
PY - 2023/1/1
Y1 - 2023/1/1
N2 - The interest in lean management in the UK’s civil infrastructure sector is on the rise. In parallel with this interest, a team-based, participative management technique called Continuous Improvement (CI) cells has been widely adopted by the sector. The research on the technique has been scarce even though it has been adopted widely in some sectors as part of lean management. The study presented in the paper explores implementation characteristics, benefits, challenges and roles of CI cells in other management strategies through a case study conducted at a large public client organisation in the infrastructure sector in the UK. Both qualitative and quantitative data were collected through interviews, participant observation at CI cell meetings, and from organisational and team records. It was found that CI cells show some similarities and differences in application with other participative management techniques in lean management. A large set of CI cell benefits and challenges were identified. CI cells were also found linked with Visual Management, kaizen, hoshin kanri, work coordination and planning, and employee training at team level.
AB - The interest in lean management in the UK’s civil infrastructure sector is on the rise. In parallel with this interest, a team-based, participative management technique called Continuous Improvement (CI) cells has been widely adopted by the sector. The research on the technique has been scarce even though it has been adopted widely in some sectors as part of lean management. The study presented in the paper explores implementation characteristics, benefits, challenges and roles of CI cells in other management strategies through a case study conducted at a large public client organisation in the infrastructure sector in the UK. Both qualitative and quantitative data were collected through interviews, participant observation at CI cell meetings, and from organisational and team records. It was found that CI cells show some similarities and differences in application with other participative management techniques in lean management. A large set of CI cell benefits and challenges were identified. CI cells were also found linked with Visual Management, kaizen, hoshin kanri, work coordination and planning, and employee training at team level.
KW - Lean management
KW - continuous improvement
KW - work planning
KW - participative management
KW - CI cells
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85100932562&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1080/09537287.2021.1885794
DO - 10.1080/09537287.2021.1885794
M3 - Article
VL - 34
SP - 68
EP - 90
JO - Production Planning and Control
JF - Production Planning and Control
SN - 0953-7287
IS - 1
ER -