PDCA

PDCA or plan–do–check–act (sometimes called plan–do–check–adjust) is an iterative design and management method used in business for the control and continual improvement of processes and products.

This emphasis on observation and current condition has currency with the literature on lean manufacturing and the Toyota Production System.

[3] The PDCA cycle, with Ishikawa's changes, can be traced back to S. Mizuno of the Tokyo Institute of Technology in 1959.

Plan–do–check–act is associated with W. Edwards Deming, who is considered by many to be the father of modern quality control; however, he used PDSA (Plan-Do-Study-Act) and referred to it as the "Shewhart cycle".

[8] The concept of PDCA is based on the scientific method, as developed from the work of Francis Bacon (Novum Organum, 1620).

Walter A. Shewhart described manufacture under "control"—under statistical control—as a three-step process of specification, production, and inspection.

According to Deming, during his lectures in Japan in the early 1950s, the Japanese participants shortened the steps to the now traditional plan, do, check, act.

[10] A fundamental principle of the scientific method and plan–do–check–act is iteration—once a hypothesis is confirmed (or negated), executing the cycle again will extend the knowledge further.

Especially at the start of a project, key information may not be known; the PDCA—scientific method—provides feedback to justify guesses (hypotheses) and increase knowledge.

[citation needed] PDCA allows for major "jumps" in performance ("breakthroughs" often desired in a Western approach), as well as kaizen (frequent small improvements).

[13] In the United States a PDCA approach is usually associated with a sizable project involving numerous people's time,[citation needed] and thus managers want to see large "breakthrough" improvements to justify the effort expended.