The PDCA cycle, also known as the "Deming Circle" after the American statistician W. Edwards Deming, is a 4-step continuous quality improvement strategy, based on a concept devised by Walter A. Shewhart.
It is also called spiral of continuous improvement.
PDCA stands for Plan, Do, Check, Act.
PLAN
- Identify the process to improve
- Collect data to deepen the knowledge of the process
- Analysis and interpretation of the data
- Establish improvement objectives
- Detail the specifications to impose on the expected results
- Define the processes necessary to achieve these objectives, verifying the specifications.
DO
- Execute the processes defined in the previous step
- Document the actions carried out.
CHECK
- After a period of time foreseen in advance, collect control data again and analyze it, comparing it with the initial objectives and specifications, to evaluate if the expected improvement has occurred.
- Document the Conclusions.
ACT
- If necessary, modify the processes according to the conclusions of the previous step to achieve the objectives with the initial specifications.
- Document the Process.