PDCA cycle stands for the Plan-Do-Check-Act cycle and is a tool commonly used for project planning and continuous improvement. Walter Shewhart first introduced the PDCA cycle and was later developed upon by Dr. W. Edwards Deming. The PDCA cycle is used in management and manufacturing. It is an essential component of lean manufacturing.
Plan-Do-Check-Act is a frequent and four-stage approach for advancing, revamping, and setting the right products, processes, and services regularly to resolve different problems.
PDCA cycle revolves around systematic testing of possible solutions along with assessing the outcomes and then implementing those that are offering the best results. PDCA cycle can also be understood as the scientific method of solving problems. The cycle is also popularly known as the Deming cycle/circle/wheel, PDSA (Plan-Do-Study-Act) cycle, the Shewhart cycle, and the control cycle/circle.
The PDCA cycle helps to create a productive environment for problem solvers as well as critical thinkers.
The PDCA cycle plans are usually first tested on a small scale for their effectiveness and efficiency. Once they are perfect, they are approved for a company-wide development and deployment.
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From where did PDCA Cycle Originate?
Walter Shewhart is considered as the father of the Plan-Do-Check-Act cycle.
The cycle is based on the principle of iteration. It means that as the iterations proceed, users eventually come closer to the perfect output or the goal.
The business will be able to develop hypotheses regarding the things that need to change. These hypotheses are then evaluated by using a feedback loop to find out essential and productive learning.
PDCA plays a crucial role in promoting the testing improvements for the small scale first that can further be incorporated in the company-wide work methods and systems.
Concept of Plan-Do-Check-Act Cycle
The PDCA cycle comprises of four stages, namely,
- Plan
- Do
- Check
- Act
These, together, help the teams to avoid and rectify errors while improving the entire processes.
It helps bring about change, and by analyzing every step, the output can be brought closer to its ideal goals. The cycle is not just employed to improve processes but also to enhance the product as well as services.
The cycle has become a core component in Lean Management as it includes steps that test solutions, understand and analyses the outcome and thus, improves the proceeding process accordingly. Lean management is one of the most compelling universal management tools that play a crucial role in offering value and optimizing work procedures. PDCA enables you to do this in an efficient and result-oriented manner.
Let us look at the functionality of each stage:
Plan
The Plan stage comprises of first understanding the problem and then planning a change about it. It also includes the recognition of an opportunity for further development and improvisation. It consists of planning for everything that needs to be performed and all the changes that need to be made.
Planning is often a significant step and takes up significant efforts from the team. It also depends upon the size of the project at hand. It is made up of comparatively smaller steps. This stage effectively helps reduce the chances of failures.
The Plan is essentially a three-step stage/cycle
1. Identifying the problem
Some of the fundamental questions that should be asked in this step include:
- Which one of the issues is the right one to work upon and has to be prioritized?
- How is the problem impacting the company and is it important?
- Who or what is the problem necessarily affecting?
- What is the best way to fix or solve the problem?
- What is the ideal output?
2. Analyzing the problems
Some of the fundamental questions that should be asked in this step include:
- What are some of the prerequisites or the information needed to understand the root cause of the problem?
- What data is already available, and what information or data is needed to be collected?
- Does the problem have the feasibility of being solved? It means that one has to analyze whether the problem can be solved economically and practically.
3. Developing the associated variables
Some of the fundamental questions that should be asked in this step include:
- Which are the best conditions under which the Plan would be successful?
- What are the kinds of resources you will need for solving the problem?
- How many of those resources do you already have available?
- What is going to be the potential impact once it is solved?
Do
Once the plan is decided, the next stage that comes into play is the Do stage.
It consists of acting upon the problem at hand. Everything that was taken into account in the preceding stage will be applied here.
This stage may also throw some problems which may be unexpected or not predicted. It is always recommended that the problem is first planned on a small scale and even experimented with the same extent to have control over this.
A controlled environment helps in understanding the issue as a whole and thus, leads to an all-rounder plan. The experiments that are conducted on a small scale allows teams to learn and adjust. They are also budgeted and therefore are not very expensive.
One should always gauge and analyze the performance of these experiments. The data collected here holds immense importance when an evaluation is carried out later on.
Check-in
It involves making sure that the execution of the Plan is following a proper order and checking whether the Plan is working. It helps in the identification of any other problems or flaws in the Plan.
One can thus, eliminate those issues. It also helps in analyzing and finding the root causes of problems.
Some of the fundamental questions that should be asked in this stage include:
- Were the desired goals achieved in the implementation of the Plan?
- Is there a need for executing additional experiments?
- What part did not function or work properly?
- What was the inference from the implementation?
- Were the changes made active, and what is the supporting data for the same?
- Can this small scale experiment be converted into a full organizational implementation?
- The solution that was given at the beginning is still practical?
The information collected in this stage is compared with the ideal or expected outcomes to identify any differences and similarities. The teams are also able to understand and analyze any existing trends.
Act
The planning, designing, and development, as well as the testing and analyzing (checking) of the solution, are comprised in Act.
The Act stage involves the application of your results. If all the objectives and the conditions are met, the team can proceed with the Plan developed in the first stage.
The steps taken within this stage entirely depend on what was learned and observed in the previous stages. If it fails to achieve the desired results, one has to go through the cycle again with a new plan as well as changes.
Some of the fundamental questions that should be asked in this stage include:
- For the implementation of the solution on an organization-wide level, what are the required resources?
- Will there be any need for training?
- How will the changes be sustained over the long term?
- How is the impact of the solution understood and monitored?
- Are there any areas that require further improvement? If so, what are they?
- How can the observations made in this experiment be applied to other ongoing or even, soon to be started trials?
This stage is also sometimes referred to as the Adjust stage.
It is where processes and plans are improved. Various issues that are identified from the previous stages of Do, as well as Check, are eliminated.
Such issues can include non-conformities, inefficiencies, problems, flaws, further opportunities for development and improvement. These issues then result in less than optimal results or outputs.
At the end of this stage, the processes are defined with better instructions, goals as well as standards. This, in turn, means that when the team is beginning with the planning for the following cycle, there will be a better and improved base-line in place.
If there is a recurrence of any of the issues which were faced earlier as well, that means that the appropriate actions were not taken or implemented. It could also mean that they are not sufficient.
When should you use the Plan-Do-Check-Act Cycle?
The Plan-Do-Check-Act cycle is commonly employed in the following cases:
- When a new improvisation project is commenced
- Whenever there is a requirement for the development of an enhanced version or even, design for a product, service, or a process
- When there is a need to redefine repetitive or redundant working processes
- Whenever there is a change that has to be implemented
- If a team needs to gather data and then analyze it for understanding, verifying as well as prioritizing problems
- It also helps in finding the root causes
- Wherever this is continuous development as well as improvement going on
Wrapping up Plan-Do-Check-Act Cycle!
While the cycle is a simple framework to comprehend, it is quite extensive and is a potent tool.
It helps in fixing errors, challenges, and problems at any as well as every level of the company. This cycle has gained a lot of importance in lean manufacturing and manufacturing as well.
This cycle helps the company’s team look for potential errors and devise solutions for the same. It helps in the plotting of solutions that continuous aide development and reduces the wastage of efforts and resources efficiently.
Because of its lengthy nature, it might not be the best idea for time-sensitive problems or critical and urgent problems. Although it is a time-consuming process, this cycle has a tremendous impact on the productivity of a process, product, service, or even people. It also helps improve and build on the efficiency of the company.
How significant do you consider the PDCA cycle in optimizing the performance of your business management? Share your views with us in the comments below.
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