Implementation of continuous improvement cells: a case study from the civil infrastructure sector in the UK

Tezel, A, Koskela, L and Tzortzopoulos, P ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8740-6753, 2023. Implementation of continuous improvement cells: a case study from the civil infrastructure sector in the UK. Production Planning and Control, 34 (1), pp. 68-90. ISSN 0953-7287

Preview

Text 2235706_Tzortzopoulos.pdf - Published version Download (4MB) | Preview

Abstract

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.

Item Type:	Journal article
Publication Title:	Production Planning and Control
Creators:	Tezel, A., Koskela, L. and Tzortzopoulos, P.
Publisher:	Informa UK Limited
Date:	2 January 2023
Volume:	34
Number:	1
ISSN:	0953-7287
Identifiers:	Number Type 10.1080/09537287.2021.1885794 DOI 2235706 Other
Rights:	© 2021 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, and is not altered, transformed, or built upon in any way.
Divisions:	Schools > School of Architecture, Design and the Built Environment
Record created by:	Laura Ward
Date Added:	03 Oct 2024 10:42
Last Modified:	03 Oct 2024 10:42
URI:	https://irep.ntu.ac.uk/id/eprint/52344

Actions (login required)

Edit View

Statistics

Views

Downloads