What is PDCA cycle? Learn how to apply it!

Before I tell you what the PDCA cycle is, I need to tell you the reasons for creating the PDCA cycle. At the beginning of the last century, big industries got their main results from the development phase, regardless of whether it was a process or a product.

Early planning was seen only as something formal, which should be used so that major errors did not occur. The other details would be known and worked only in the phase that was established as of greater importance: execution.

I don't need to say that this strategy generated an unpredictable result, isn't? So, to meet the growth of competitiveness on a global scale in the mid-1960s, a structured method for problem solving and even for project management was disseminated worldwide: the PDCA cycle.

What is PDCA cycle?

The PDCA cycle is a management approach focused on improvement that can to control and improve processes and products in a continuous way. It is also known as Shewhart Cycle or Deming Wheel.

The PDCA cycle is divided into four steps: plan, do, check and act. It is used in problem solving for varied causes when it is not known what to do.

The PDCA grew and became famous within Total Quality Control (TQC), considered as an innovative management system for the time and, until nowadays, with principles and foundations still adopted.

During this period, quality tools were also being used with strong strategic appeal, it was not long before they were introduced to this revolutionary model for solving opportunities and problems.

What are the benefits of the PDCA cycle?

The benefits of the PDCA cycle in a simple way are the increased competitiveness, since problem are corrected much more efficiently.

In addition, it is possible, through the improvement and quality management, the standardization of the results obtained. So this problem does not return and the performance involved is maintained.

Over time, industries and other organizations that used the PDCA cycle started to obtain the benefits of their application. In addition to corrective actions, this method also enables and stimulates the focus on prevention and improvement of processes and products. This was a new strategic vision in those times.

Continue to specialize in the Lean Six Sigma methodology and take the next step for your professional recognition now! With the advancement of tools and techniques from Green Belt to Black Belt you will be able to delve even deeper into this methodology, offer greater results to organizations, consequently being a prominent professional in the market!

PDCA Cycle and Lean Six Sigma

It is also possible to apply the PDCA cycle to Lean Six Sigma projects. It is no coincidence that companies around the world adopt this improvement program within the PDCA Cycle, and not the DMAIC method.

Then you may have the following question: but then there is difference in the results that I can get with each method? No!

The real difference between these two innovative methodologies is related to their cultural principles and motivation for creation, which have made regular the use of tools and techniques peculiar to each side - which can not necessarily be used only by one of them.

4 steps of the PDCA cycle (Plan - Do - Check - Act)

It's not enough just to know what the PDCA cycle is, right? It is necessary to understand its operation and to know how to use this famous method. Let's start?

Plan

The planning stage is the main step of management to improve the organization's results. After all, Einstein once said:

"If I had an hour to solve a problem I'd spend 55 minutes thinking about the problem and 5 minutes thinking about solutions."

It all depends on how well you will plan your solution. If you do not set the problem well, if you do not ask the right questions, when you get to the Check step, you will find out that your solution was not effective.

Knowing the importance of this stage, we will analyze it in detail, because as you can see, within the planning phase there are four phases that must be followed to ensure that everything is done in the right way. Let's see each one of them?

1 - Problem Identification

The objective of this step is to clearly define the problem or improvement desired and to recognize its importance.

Therefore, in this step the following tasks must be performed:

• Definition of the problem.
• History of the problem
• Survey of current losses
• Evaluation of possible gains
• Identification of the main effects.

But how can we accomplish these tasks? The good news is that there are numerous tools that can help us at this stage. I have listed some of them so that you can use them when designing your PDCA cycle:

• Check Sheet.
• Control Chart.
• Ishikawa Diagram.

With the problem identified and all the above tasks performed, you can move to the next step in the planning ...

2 - Analysis of the phenomenon

In this moment the objective is to investigate what are the specific characteristics of the problem with a broad vision.

Therefore, in this step you should perform the following tasks:

• Discovery of the characteristics of the problem
• Local monitoring
• Preparation of the documents.

Just as in the first step, there are tools that can help you understand and analyze the phenomenon studied, and they are:

• Histogram.
• Pareto diagram.
• Scatter Diagram.

As you can see, in the first stage, tools were used to help understand the possible causes of the problem by collecting statistical data from the process.

Therefore in the second stage, the tools used focus on understanding the behavior of the problem, through diagrams that make the understanding easier to be visualized.

3 - Process Analysis

The focus here is simple and straightforward: to identify the root cause of the problem.

With the possible causes raised and the diagrams to facilitate the understanding, you can filter those that cause greater impact to the process, concentrating all the efforts going forward in the solution of these problems.

Summarizing in this step, the following activities must be done:

• Definition of influential causes
• Choice of the most probable causes
• Analysis of the most probable causes.

To accomplish these tasks you must use the following tools:

• Flowchart.
• Ishikawa Diagram.
• Impact & Effort Matrix.
• 5 whys.

Maybe you're wondering why we're using the Ishikawa Diagram again, right? At this point this tool is also very important because it helps us to select the causes that most impact on the results. How?

Through a Brainstorming with people from all sectors of the process in question, you can easily get lots of ideas about the causes of the problem. That way, you need to use Ishikawa to filter out those that are most relevant to the process.

Another tool worth mentioning at this stage is the Impact & Effort Matrix. Using it, you can measure which problems can have action plans with great impact and low effort, which are the most recommended actions.

4 - Action Plan

The focus of this step is to develop action plans to block problems by eliminating their root causes.

In a simple and direct way, two tasks need to be performed in this step, and they are:

• Elaborate strategy of action
• Work with the most likely causes.

By having the most probable causes at hand, you need to devise an action strategy aimed at solving each of them in the most possible efficient way.

In this step we will give full prominence to a tool that will help you a lot: 5W2H. Through the 7 questions in this method you will be able to find out everything about your process and how to solve it.

But this is a matter for our next point ...

Do

It is in the execution step that the results are generated in the PDCA cycle. The level of outcomes depends on the "quality" of the actions and the level of implementation of the proposed action plan.

5 - Execution of the Action Plan

With the action plan in hand to solve the problem, all the tasks actually come into operation! The root causes have already been discovered and the best ideas for solving them have already been known.

Now, all that remains is to execute them according to the plan, and to be executed in an excellent way, it is necessary to disseminate the actions for all in order to achieve an alignment between the areas, avoiding that the improvement of a process implies in a worsens in another process.

That is why it was said before that during the planning stage, it is extremely important to have people from all areas involved in the process, in order to avoid communication problems.

Another important point to remember is that some actions require training for execution. Therefore, the necessary training should be promoted to ensure that the implementation of the PDCA cycle is successful.

To make your life easier, here are some tips to put into practice during the execution stage:

• Clearly present the tasks, not to charge something that was not properly defined
• Track and record results, whether positive or negative
• Ask the opinion of the operators and supervisors about the changes, as they execute and follow the process closely
• In the case of training, schedule yourself not to compromise the company's activities and convey the importance of them.

"It's better a simple idea and a flawless execution, than a brilliant idea and a failed execution."

(Carlos Brito - CEO AMBEV)

This phrase is essential when executing a plan of action, because professionals often waste time with extremely complex plans whose application becomes very complicated, while they could elaborate simple plans with great results because they are easy to execute !

As in the steps above, there are tools such as FMEA (Failure Mode and Effect Analysis) that can help in this step.

Check

The check phase is an opportunity to reflect on the results and on the commitment of those in charge with the implementation of the defined actions.

6 - Check the results

In this step there are several points that must be checked in order to verify that the actions are being carried out efficiently. They are:

• Guarantee of the authenticity of the information of the goal, so the results can not be manipulated
• Try to convert and compare the financial results generated by the action
• If it is perceived that the results are unsatisfactory, make sure that all actions have been implemented
• Changing some factor (internal or external) can change the characteristics and analyzes of the problem, and consequently affect the results.

The following chart can help you quickly and clearly visualize the possibilities that exist in this step:

Quality tools like Histogram and Control Chart can be very useful here as well. In addition to these, the related performance metrics should also be used here in the project scope, be it an OEE indicator, a process capability indicator (CPK) or even a 6 Sigma metric, for example.

Act

The corrective action or standardization phase is critical to closing the improvement cycle. In the case of success, it is the stage that integrates the two management cycles (improvement and maintenance of results).

7 - Standardization

Have you validated the performed actions? Now, then, the goal is to standardize earned gains! So that the same problems do not return and future performance does not reduce. Tools such as Program 5S, SOP (Standard Operating Procedure), SPC (Statistical Process Control) and Poka-Yoke can help.

To maintain good standardization in your company you can use the SDCA cycle, whose thinking is similar to PDCA, but seeks to keep the improvements obtained.

8 - Conclusion

The PDCA cycle is closed, right? Wrong! As its name implies, this is a cycle of continuous improvement! There will always be problems to be solved or opportunities for improvement to be explored.

Therefore, when a PDCA cycle ends, guaranteeing the permanence of the results obtained, it is time to seek to solve new problems in order to improve even better the results obtained!

Do you want learn more about Lean Six Sigma?

The performance evaluation can be defined as the identification and measurement of the actions that the employees of an organization carry out during a certain period. The performance evaluation aims to diagnose and analyze the individual and group performance of employees, promoting personal and professional growth as well as better performance. In addition, it provides human resource management with information for making decisions about salaries, bonuses, promotions, layoffs, training and career planning, providing the growth and development of the person being evaluated.

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