PDCA-Deming PDCA cycle

PDCA, Plan-Do-Check-Act cycle is an essential part of the lean manufacturing for continuous improvement of people and processes.

First, proposed by Walter Shewhart and later developed by William Deming, PDCA cycle is a simple four-stage method that enables teams to avoid recurring mistakes and improve processes.

Plan – Identify the problem, collect relevant data, and understand the problem's root cause, develop hypotheses about what the issues may be, and decide which one to test.

Do – Develop and implement a solution; decide upon a measurement to gauge its effectiveness, test the potential solution, and measure the results.

Check – Confirm the results through before-and-after data comparison. Study the result, measure effectiveness, and decide whether the hypothesis is supported or not.

Act – Document the results, inform others about process changes, and make recommendations for the future PDCA cycles. If the solution was successful, implement it. If not, tackle the next problem and repeat the PDCA cycle again..