Introducing Lean Improvement into the UK Highways Agency Supply Chain

Derek Drysdale¹

Abstract

The U.K. Highways Agency’s Lean deployment strategy was introduced in 2009 with the establishment of an in-house Lean division. This paper describes the way in which the Highways Agency has engaged with its supply chain, helping to build capability so that suppliers can undertake Lean projects and champion them within their own organisations. This is followed by a discussion of the methods used to assess the supply chain’s progress in Lean, measure benefits and transfer knowledge gained from individual Lean projects so that those benefits can be multiplied across the highways sector. Four projects are then discussed, both within the supply chain and within the Agency, which show a range of Lean methods being used to support delivery of major projects and maintenance works.

Keywords

U.K. Highways Agency, lean construction, lean deployment strategy, supply chain, collaborative planning, visual management

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Reference

Drysdale, D. 2013. Introducing Lean Improvement into the UK Highways Agency Supply Chain, 21th Annual Conference of the International Group for Lean Construction , 1067-1074. doi.org/

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