CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT
PDCA Cycle
PDCA Cycle
The PDCA cycle (short for Plan, Do, Check, Act) also known as PDSA – where the “S” stands for Study – provides a systematic strategy to testing out unique ideas and hypotheses with the organisation. It can help with implementing continuous improvement throughout your organization using a structured framework. This lean management tool is useful for improving business processes, efficiency, or productivity.
Plan-Do-Check-Act Cycle
Plan – first step is to identify and understand your problem or opportunity. Explore the facts available in full and outline your strategic goals and how you’ll achieve them.
When formulating your strategic goals, you might want to consider asking the following questions:
- what are you trying to achieve by doing this?
- how does this benefit the organisation or customers?
- Which solution works best?
Do – Once you have identified a prospective solution, safely implement the plan to test it (pilot project) and make any modifications required to make certain it works. Collect data from the pilot project as you test it, this will show whether the modification has worked or not.
Check – Next step is to analyse your pilot project and evaluate the effects against the goals you defined in your strategic goals (in step 1), to assess whether your plan was a success or not. If not, identify opportunities for improvement, else move on to the next step.
Act – This is where you will implement your prospective solution. Changes will primarily be influenced by the decisions made in the preceding step. Keep in mind that PDCA/PDSA is a process with a circle, not a beginning and an end.
When to Use PDCA
The PDCA cycle work for all organisations and can even be applied to our daily lives to improve your own performance. It is a helpful tool for breaking and improving processes or product.
This is especially helpful when implementing a Quality Management System (QMS).
Use SHEQ software
To design and implement a Quality Management System, SRM and many of our clients use Mango Compliance Software – www.mangolive.com Mango makes it easier to obtain and maintain ISO 9001:2015 certification.
More About QMS:
All about Continuous Improvement
SRM is ISO 9001:2015, ISO 14001:2015 and ISO 45001:2018 certified. Contact our consultants today. Let us know if we can help you with the development and implementation of your Quality Management System.