PDCA (PLAN – DO – CHECK -ACT) CYCLE | PDSA Cycle | Problem Solving!

hey there my name is andy robertson with

cqe academy and in today's video we're

going to talk about the plan do check

act cycle

all right let's head over to the

computer

all right let's talk about the plan do

check act cycle

so here it is here's kind of a pictorial

reference of the plan do check act cycle

and before we get into the actual

process itself and dive into each of the

individual steps i want to share some

basic fundamental truths about the plan

do check act cycle that i think everyone

should know

the first is that it is a very simple

process for solving problems

as quality engineers or continuous

improvement experts our jobs are to be

continuously

solving problems and if you want

effective and efficient results and you

want to be an expert at solving problems

you should be using a problem solving

process and that's exactly what plan do

check hack is

now the plan dude check hack cycle or

pdca was popularized by a guy named w

edwards deming who gave credit to

another guy named walter shoehart

so you sometimes hear this called the

deming cycle or the shoehart cycle

in fact shoehart wanted to really

emphasize the the idea of studying your

results so sometimes he called it the

plan do study act cycle

so you'll hear it called by different

names but in reality

it's really just a reflection of the

scientific method

while deming popularized it and shoehart

really put a name to it

it's really simply the scientific method

in action

we start by planning an experiment to

test a hypothesis

we execute that experiment we study the

results of that experiment

and then we take whatever information we

learn from that experiment

and we form new hypotheses or we form a

more complex mature hypotheses

that we then continue to test and

continue to iterate and mature over time

so really this process for solving

problems isn't anything new

it's simply just the scientific method

and then last and finally and i know

i've said this already is that

it is iterative in nature so solving

problems should never stop

at the end of your experiment whatever

it is you should be

planning the next experiment you should

be constantly you know

moving the ball down the field solving

problems and

continuing to use this process to get

better and better

and really engage in continuous

improvement all right so now let's jump

into the actual process itself

in the planning phase is where we do

things like define the problem statement

so before we can solve a problem

it's good to get really crystal clear on

what the problem statement is

is it customer complaints is it a yield

issue is it process capability

is it process stability no matter what

it is it's good to align with your team

and say this is the problem we're trying

to solve now of course your problem

statement might change

as you spin the cycle and as you gain

more information but it's good to start

here and say this is our problem

statement

and then maybe the next step is to do a

fishbone diagram to identify

potential root causes and potential

contributing factors

that you want to test and you want to

experiment to either rule out or confirm

other things here you can do is review

historical data

or establish targets what should the

yield be

what should our process capability be

what should our process stability be

these are all good opportunities to talk

about what are we really trying to

achieve

when we solve this problem and then

depending on the scope of your problem

maybe you want to create a project

charter

that has a timeline and a project team

that can help really formalize your

efforts

and then lastly and this is the most

important you want to plan some

experiments

so let's say we leave the planning phase

with four potential root causes

we should be planning experiments to

test those four different potential root

causes

to either be able to rule them out or

confirm them as true root causes

and then the do phase this is quite

simple right we want to execute the plan

and we want to collect data and then we

can take that data that we collected and

it's time

to do the analysis so this is where we

can use a lot of these statistical tools

like

anova analysis pareto charts histograms

scatter plots hypothesis tests a lot of

these statistical methods and tools that

we talk about

in quality engineering this is the time

to use those tools to analyze our

results

and then we want to compare the observed

against the expected

and along the way we should be comparing

the observed results against the

expected

so back in the planning phase when we

create a hypothesis

we should talk about what we think the

expected outcome is

and if our observed results match the

expected results

well then yeah maybe we're confirming

that the root cause that we're testing

for

is the true root cause but if the

observed results are different

now it's time to have a conversation

about why so that we can

learn something new this is the next

part this study phase or this check

phase is really when we're supposed to

learn something new about our process

so that we can make improvements okay

and then i talk about this after action

review

so at the conclusion of our experiments

and the do

phase we want to talk about things that

went well and things that didn't go well

because eventually we're gonna go

through this plan do check act cycle

again

and we should be using that new

information to make a

better experiment or a more mature

experiment the next time around

and then act so now it's time to take

what you've learned and to put it into

action

if you did identify the root cause of

your problem

let's implement changes to address the

root cause

if we didn't identify the root cause

it's time to talk about

the next target condition or the next

experiment that we want to run

and then if you didn't identify the true

root cause it's time to talk about the

next

experiment you want to run by the way

even if you did identify the root cause

you can continue to get better so let's

say we're talking about process

capability

you might improve process capability a

little bit but it could always get

better

so it's time to maybe talk about what

that next target condition might be

and then the real important piece i want

to stress here is in the act phase or

some people call it the adjust

phase it's time to start talking about

how we're going to do this all over

again because no matter what problem

you're solving

you can always get better you can always

make your process a little bit better

and that's where we want to keep going

through the pdca cycle

as they say spin that wheel and keep

going through the problem solving

process

so that was it i know it's very simple

but it's a really

powerful process for solving problems

all right that's it for the plan new

checkout cycle

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all right that's it for me i'll see in

the next video thanks so much bye