{"id":2735,"date":"2016-12-12T07:31:12","date_gmt":"2016-12-12T12:31:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/flevy.com\/blog\/?p=2735"},"modified":"2016-12-19T17:13:23","modified_gmt":"2016-12-19T22:13:23","slug":"continuous-improvement-101-the-deming-cycle-pdca","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/flevy.com\/blog\/continuous-improvement-101-the-deming-cycle-pdca\/","title":{"rendered":"Continuous Improvement 101: The Deming Cycle (PDCA)"},"content":{"rendered":"

“Continuous Improvement” is a term management consulting firms love using. \u00a0It’s also a driving principle behind Lean Management<\/a>.<\/p>\n

So, how can we achieve Continuous Improvement<\/a> in our organization?<\/p>\n

One of the most common Lean frameworks for Continuous Improvement (of quality) is the Deming Cycle<\/a>–also commonly known as PDCA Cycle, Deming Wheel, Shewhart Cycle, or Continuous Improvement Spiral. \u00a0The Deming Cycle consists of a logical sequence of 4 repetitive steps for continuous improvement and learning: PLAN, DO, CHECK (STUDY), and ACT.<\/p>\n

It originated in the 1920s with statistics expert Mr. Walter A. Shewhart, who introduced the concept of Plan, Do and See. Deming modified the cycle of Shewart towards: PLAN<\/strong>, DO<\/strong>, CHECK<\/strong>, and ACT<\/strong>. The Deming Cycle is related to Kaizen<\/a> thinking and Just-in-Time (JIT)<\/a> manufacturing. \u00a0The concept of PDCA is based on the Scientific Method (which can be written as \u00a0Hypothesis-Experiment-Evaluation-Do-Check), developed by Francis Bacon.<\/p>\n

There is another version of this PDCA cycle is OPDCA. The added “O” stands for observation or as some versions say “Grasp the current condition.” This emphasis on observation and current condition has currency with Lean manufacturing\/Toyota Production System literature.<\/p>\n

There are numerous benefits to the Deming Cycle, spanning a variety of corporate functional areas. \u00a0These include, but not limited to:<\/p>\n