Dming Cycle (PDCA)

Deming cycle (PDCA) is an iterative model for implementation of continual improvement which consists of steps Plan, Do, Check and Act.

A simple definition of the PDCA steps

1. Plan

The plan is the initial step of PDCA which involves identifying a goal or purposes, resources needed, defining goals indexes, and criteria to putting a plan into action.  

In this step, the organizations establish the objectives and processes necessary to deliver results in accordance with the expected output.  By establishing output expectations, the completeness and accuracy of the specification are also a part of the targeted improvement.

PDCA is an iterative process

2. DO

In the DO phase, plan components are implemented and in this phase, the focus is on plan implementation, process implementation, and if applicable the process change.

3. CHECK

At the check step, the organization controls the results of implementation by measuring and controlling the actual results in Do step by comparing with detrmined targets.
The organization looks for deviations in implementation from the plan and also looks for the appropriateness and completeness of the plan to enable the execution–i.e., “Do.”

4. ACT

At this stage, the implementation is monitored by the improvement team leader to ensure compliance with the previous steps and when the check shows that the implementation in “DO” is not according to the “plan”, the organization should relevant evaluate the causes and take the appropriate action.

Note that the Deming Cycle is an iterative process, so after ACT, we return back to PLAN.  Over time, the organizations will achieve Continuous Improvement in quality.  Each time we renew the cycle, our organization is at a higher point of quality.  Executing the cycle again will extend our knowledge further.