What is PDCA cycle?
PDCA cycle, developed by engineer Walter A. Shewhart in the early 20th century, also known as Deming or Shewhart cycle, is a part of the concept of total quality control in industry. Its original goal is to control the quality of their products and services.
This model forms the basis for two of the world’s most popular ISO management standards, namely ISO 9001 and ISO 14001. It can also be found in any number of today’s more popular frameworks or processes for business improvement, lean approach, 6 sigma, TQM and etc.
PDCA cycle focuses on the use of quality spiral to eliminate problems and constantly improve the process, so as to avoid the recurrence of problems. This method is called a "cycle", because after all steps are executed, a new cycle can be executed to gradually improve and optimize the process and output.
Plan - This step involves finding problem areas that need to be fixed. The manager will then collect as much supporting data as possible and determine the root cause.
Do - This step involve carry out and execute the plan. Once you have come up with a workable plan to solve or fix the problem, you have developed measures of progress to assess effectiveness.
Check - In this step: before and after the change, verify the results by comparing the collected data to the expected values.
Act - In this step, you record all results and share changes and results with others. It is recommended that any improvements and agreed changes be fully implemented in the next PDCA cycle.
