PDCA

PDCA which is expanded as plan-do-check-act is mainly utilized in the process improvement in business. It is a four-step iterative process which has got the main purpose of problem solving. The other names for PDCA are plan-do-study-act, Shewart cycle, plan-do-study-act and control cycle.

The PDCA stands for plan, do, check, and act. The main concern of the plan is to output. It concentrates on the establishment of the processes and the objectives that are involved in delivery the expected results. Making the expect output as the center of focus this technique differs from the other techniques in striving hard to achieve the completeness and the accuracy. The contribution of the plan to the improvement is appreciated very much.

The second step in the PDCA cycle is Do which solely concentration on the implementation of the processes. The new processes are also implemented along. Whenever a small process is tested, it is tested on a small scale basis. The third step in the cycle is the checking part were certain new processes would be measured and analysis by comparing the results that are got from the results that are expected. This technique’s main goal is to ascertain the difference in the results. The final step in the cycle is act where one will be analyzing the differences in order to determine the cause. This final step is very important because it is the part where one would be acting and determine improvement in the whole business. But without much concentration in the three steps before one can excel in this step.

Dr. W. Edwards Deming is the person who popularized the PDCA plan. Edward Deming is considered as the father of modern quality by many people. He always referred to the PDCA cycleas the Shewhart cycle. In his career, he later changed the PDCA plan to PDSA cycle which meant Plan, do, study and act. Francis Bacon’s work Novum Organum which was published in the year 1620 has been the base for the concept of PDCA. This is a scientific method that is developed from this work which emphasis on three basic things namely hypothesis, experiment, and evaluation or plan, do and check.  Deming later preferred the word study instead of the check because the word study has got connotations which is quite near to the intention of Shewhart who used check.

Simplicity is the key where the power of the concept is rested. Though many people have the fear of being wrong in the whole process even through objective measurements. The lack commitment may be one reason for failure.