Evaluating your business practices is essential for anyone who wants to stand out in the market. Companies must seek operational effectiveness, motivate employees and increase their competitiveness. The challenge is even more significant in the late globalization of the southern hemisphere.<\/p>\n
One of the main continuous improvement techniques is the PDCA Cycle, a worldwide management method. The tool is ideal for controlling and continuously improving processes, and the acronym reveals four specific steps:<\/p>\n
The objective of the PDCA Cycle is to understand, on the one hand, how a failure arises and, on the other hand, how it can be solved. When an improvement opportunity is identified, it is possible to define actions to promote changes.<\/p>\n
Therefore, from the PDCA it is possible to extract solutions to problems and assist in the execution of strategic planning. It is widely used in\u00a0quality management<\/a>\u00a0but can be easily applied in any organizational area.<\/p>\n This article will unravel the PDCA Cycle and its four stages.<\/p>\n In this first step of the cycle, we work on three levels:<\/p>\n The first step is to investigate your organization\u2019s current situation. From this overview, understand the nature of the problem to be solved in depth. With this, identify possible solutions.<\/p>\n And it is here that the\u00a0Action Plan<\/a>\u00a0is born, which entitles the stage.<\/p>\n Tip:<\/strong>\u00a0A handy tool in this step is 5W2H.<\/p>\n The planning stage of the PDCA Cycle is divided into 4 phases:<\/p>\n With the team, identify the problem or opportunity for improvement in your organization.<\/p>\n Indicated actions:<\/p>\n Inputs:<\/strong>\u00a0To have a more objective view, use reports, data, graphs, and photos.<\/p>\n Tip:<\/strong>\u00a0With the inputs in hand, Brainstorming is a good tool for this step.<\/p>\n This may be the most time-consuming step in the PDCA Cycle.<\/p>\n At this stage, the problem must be unraveled in depth. Indicated actions:<\/p>\n Tip:<\/strong>\u00a0A tool often used at this stage is the Pareto Analysis.<\/p>\n When these actions are completed, it will be possible to:<\/p>\n This step is a consequence of the previous one. Here, the problem\u2019s hypothesis is raised until the root cause is reached. Based on the data collected, keep these actions in mind:<\/p>\n Tip:<\/strong>\u00a0To help in this step, the\u00a0Ishikawa Diagram<\/a>\u00a0or the 5 Whys tools are used.<\/p>\n One of the first phase\u2019s most essential steps is the time to plan. Briefly, here you will define what actions will be taken to solve the problem.<\/p>\n Tools such as 5W2H or\u00a0Action Plan<\/a>\u00a0can be used to guide the development of the stage. Suggested actions:<\/p>\n It\u2019s time to make it happen. It indicates putting into practice the execution of the planned actions and recording all the results, whether good or bad.<\/p>\n Here are five steps that can help you better organize this stage:<\/p>\n Make sure that there are no deviations from the\u00a0Action Plan<\/a>. If it is impossible to execute what was planned, go back to the first step (Plan) to analyze the reasons.<\/p>\n The Do (Execute) step of the PDCA Cycle is a testing phase. The reason? It verifies what is working and needs to be adjusted in the planning.<\/p>\n In this stage, the progress of the planning and the actions carried out is verified. In addition, an analysis of the results obtained so far with the changes made is carried out.<\/p>\n It must be done only at the end of the actions. Does it make sense to check what hasn\u2019t even ended yet? An alternative would be to develop the check in the first step in the\u00a0Action Plan<\/a>.<\/p>\n It is vital at this point to compare the before and after. In addition, assess whether this improvement was successfully achieved. If the results do not meet expectations, it is recommended to return to the initial PDCA phase.<\/p>\n Tip:<\/strong>\u00a0For analysis and verification of results, there are several relevant tools:<\/p>\n See seven quality control tools (Flow Chart, Check Sheet, Pareto Chart, Fishbone Diagram, Scatter Diagram, Histogram, and the Control Charts) explained in this video:<\/p>\n <\/p>\nPlan<\/h2>\n
\n
How to plan the PDCA Cycle<\/h3>\n
1. Identification of the problem (macro)<\/h4>\n
\n
2. Unravel the problem (micro)<\/h4>\n
\n
\n
3. Problem analysis<\/h4>\n
\n
4. Action plan<\/h4>\n
\n
Do (Execute)<\/h2>\n
\n
Check<\/h2>\n
\n