Continuous improvement helps supply chain professionals enhance quality, decrease costs, work more efficiently and build resilience for the future. In recent research with 316 organizations, APQC found that many supply chain organizations have already implemented continuous improvement using methodologies like Total Quality Management (44% of respondents) and Plan, Do, Check, Act (40%). Only a small minority of organizations have not adopted any formal continuous improvement program at this point.
While most supply chain leaders know about continuous improvement, many have an opportunity to adopt it more widely. After breaking down our data on continuous improvement in supply chain, we look at some of the barriers that are preventing it from spreading further and provide guidance for how you can work through these barriers.
Organizations Have an Opportunity to Adopt Continuous Improvement More Widely
At this point, the benefits of continuous improvement are well-established. Most organizations that we surveyed have formally documented and quantified improved quality (67%) and increased productivity (60%) resulting from the adoption of continuous improvement methodologies. Other documented benefits include reduced delays (48%), improved customer service (48%), and lower costs (43%).
With benefits like these, it makes sense that respondents see continuous improvement as a highly effective approach. Nearly half (46%) say that continuous improvement is effective for their supply chain and another 25% find it to be extremely effective.
The benefits of continuous improvement and perceptions of its effectiveness both reinforce the business case for greater investments of money, personnel, technology and other organizational resources. Only 3% of respondents anticipate a decrease in resources dedicated to continuous improvement, while 83% anticipate an increase.
APQC
Invest in Change Management to Boost Continuous Improvement
What keeps organizations from adopting continuous improvement across the entire supply chain, especially when the benefits are so clearly visible? While respondents were less likely to agree on a specific obstacle or challenge, it is striking that a majority of the challenges identified by respondents are about people.
For example, while picking the right tool was the most common challenge (34% of respondents), creating a continuous improvement culture and engaging frontline employees for continuous improvement were not far behind (33% each). Other people-related barriers include a lack of relevant training available (29%), the fact that people feel too busy with other responsibilities (27%), and the need to overcome resistance to change (26%).
All of these challenges highlight the need for effective change management to ensure buy-in for continuous improvement across your supply chain. Continuous improvement always involves making some type of change—the point, after all, is to do things differently or better than before. The challenge is that change is not always welcome, especially when it means asking employees to learn new tools, methods, or ways of working while leaving older (and often more comfortable) approaches behind. For that reason, it’s common for leading organizations to invest in structured processes and approaches to help employees navigate change successfully.
Three Change Management Strategies for Continuous Improvement
If you need to create buy-in for continuous improvement, the three strategies below are a great place to start.
Invest in Continuous Improvement Expertise
Creating an effective and sustainable continuous improvement culture means providing training for employees, making sure they know their role in continuous improvement, overcoming resistance to change, and more. Continuous improvement experts can and often do play a key role by helping to drive these critical success factors and by acting as champions for continuous improvement in the business. Leading organizations hire full-time continuous improvement experts, which is ideal because it means that they can give all of their time and energy to helping supply chains adopt and apply continuous improvement.
We found that 39% of organizations have invested in full-time continuous improvement experts, while 24% use part-time experts that are assigned to projects as needed. Another 26% formally use continuous improvement methodologies but have limited or no access to experts. If you’re struggling to overcome resistance to change or drive a culture of continuous improvement, consider investing additional resources in these key evangelists for continuous improvement.
Engage Employees for Change
Employees will always be more willing to buy into change that makes sense to them and that they can play a meaningful role in shaping. Beyond training, we’ve found the following practices to be especially effective for engaging employees:
- Answer the question: “What’s in it for me?” for employees. Use tailored messaging to explain continuous improvement, why it is needed, and how it will help make employees’ lives easier or better (for example, by reducing manual work or unnecessary process steps).
- When possible, involve employees in shaping what your approach to continuous improvement looks like. Use two-way communications to provide opportunities for employees to offer feedback, share ideas, and voice concerns—and show that you’re listening.
- Reinforce continuous improvement with incentives like rewards and recognition. Leading organizations often use gamification to make the work more fun and engaging.
Continue Gathering Data on Effectiveness
Ongoing support and buy-in from the top are critical to sustain continuous improvement. If you’ve already identified measures of success for continuous improvement and are tracking them, keep up the good work. If you haven’t, it’s critical to start that work today. Tie continuous improvement measures to business outcomes that leaders care about, like increased productivity, higher revenue, cost savings, or enhanced customer service.
You should track these measures continuously and always be ready to tell a convincing story about why continuous improvement is key for supply chain success. Leaders today might see continuous improvement as a valuable investment, but organizational priorities can turn on a dime with changes in leadership, an economic downturn, a merger or acquisition, or other significant changes. Measures not only help you find improvement opportunities but also keep your business case fresh.
The benefits of continuous improvement for supply chain are beyond question at this point. But many organizations face significant challenges related to people that make it difficult to implement continuous improvement across the entire supply chain.
If you’re working to implement or sustain a continuous improvement program for supply chain, invest in full-time expertise to help engage frontline employees and bring them along on the journey. While leadership is not an obstacle today, keeping measures of success in your back pocket is always a good idea in case you find yourself having to justify investments in continuous improvement. With a good story and numbers to back it up, you’ll have a much higher likelihood of sustaining or even expanding support for continuous improvement in supply chain.
