Deming & PDCA Cycle

Key process improvement project cycle

Dr W. Edwards Deming was an American Quality expert who devised the Plan - Do - Check - Act (PDCA) cycle of improvement during his visits to the Japanese Union of Scientists and Engineers in the 1950's. 

This Deming PDCA cycle became the basis for many improvement cycles and approaches over the next 50 years and was the basis of improvement efforts used in the turnaround of Japanese manufacturing in the second half of the twentieth century.

Deming didn't originally call it the PDCA cycle instead he named it the Shewhart Cycle, in recognition of the the work of Walter A. Shewhart.  Shewhart is considered the father of the study into Statistical Process Control (SPC) and the understanding of process variation from an industrial perspective.  Deming's cycle often goes by the terms Plan, Do, Study, Act PDSA rather then PDCA.

The PDCA cycle describes a simple problem solving and process improvement process of 4 steps that looked to logically approach a problem and engage people from a wide variety of backgrounds in problem solving and improvement.

Use this topic to ground your understanding of a simple set of steps for problem solving and process improvement.  

Join and see how they have matured into modern approaches to process improvement and change in Running Six Sigma Projects and Programmes, DMAIC, IMAGIINE and the 7 Key Project Stages.