Pre-Requisite to PDCA Cycle

For the unversed, Plan-Do-Check-Act cycle is a popular business management method to achieve continuous improvement in an organization. It is widely implemented as a part of a tool within larger improvement methodologies, or as a stand-alone approach to quality control and change management. The starting step for PDCA is the principle of standard work.

The concept of standard procedures or Standard Work is based on the assumption that if an operation or set of operations are carried out always in the same way then the result is always the same both in terms of quality and in terms of time spent (important for planning). Taking as its starting point an opportunity for improvement or a problem to solve a particular case, the PDCA cycles can be summarized as follows: (Plan) the current situation is clearly defined and a plan is developed in order to make the desired change; (Do) the plan is executed to reach the desired state; (Check) verifying if the results is what was expected or not; and (Act) a decision taken about what to do in the next PDCA cycle. A new cycle will then be initiated. The PDCA methodology only work effectively if there is a default rule or procedure (Standard Work) assumed for the case in which the PDCA cycles are applied.?

We strongly recommend that whenever the PDCA cycle result in an improvement then the standard procedure should be updated to ensure that the gains are maintained.

#operational excellence #Lean Manufacturing #Change Management #Standard Work