The PDCA cycle in Management systems

Some management systems of the ISO series, for example, ISO 9001:2015, ISO 14001:2015, and ISO 45001 all have one thing in common. The requirements of the systems are based on the principle of the continuous improvement process (CIP), also known as the PDCA cycle or the Deming cycle. Even if you have not yet established a management system in your company, you can use this process to continuously improve your company.

The PDCA cycle also called the Deming cycle or Shewhart cycle was developed in 1930 by Walter Andrew Shewhart and further developed by William Edwards Deming. The cycle is based on the principle of continuous improvement. Even if you did not know the above-mentioned terms PDCA etc. before, you are certainly familiar with the concept.
We all live by this premise when we want to learn or improve something. We all strive for continuous improvement. The PDCA cycle is a standardized process of this approach.

A student of Shewhart, William Deming, developed and spread Shewhart's approaches further. The term PDCA cycle has also established itself as a term because it can be used detached from the two creators.
In Japan, the PDCA cycle is known as Kaizen (change, transformation). W. Deming was invited to Japan in 1950 by the son of Ishikawa Kaoru to give a lecture on the PDCA cycle to executives from 21 industries. The principle had a significant impact on Japan's quality assurance in the following years. The Deming Prize, which has been awarded by a Japanese association for outstanding achievements in quality management since 1950, was also named after William Deming.

The PDCA cycle consists of 4 phases: Plan, Do, Check, and Act. They also form the acronym PDCA.

The four phases of the deming cycle

Phase 1 Plan: In the first phase, a plan for the improvement of the individual business processes or actions in the company that require improvement is drawn up, based on the current situation of the company. Based on the findings, measures are derived to help the company to achieve the defined goal. These goals must be measurable to check if the measures are effective.

Phase 2 Do: The executing employees are familiarized with the derived measures. However, the measures should not yet be finally established around companies but should be tested for the time being.

Phase 3 Check: The introduced measures are tested for their effectiveness and, if successful, are established in the company. If the results of the measures are not yet satisfactory, they need to be modified accordingly.

Phase 4 Act: If the company has completed phase 3, the new measures are considered standard in the company. If there is further potential for improvement, this cycle is repeated.

Several other problem-solving approaches are based on the PDCA cycle. Some of these methods we have already discussed on our blog. As already mentioned, the continuous improvement process has become established in Japan as Kaizen. The 8D Report and the A3 Report from the Toyota Production System are also inspired by the PDCA. The special feature of the latter is that the entire report is to be reproduced on a DIN A3 sized sheet of paper. Which variation of the PDCA cycle you use, to establish a continuous improvement process in your company depends solely on the size of the problem and your preference.
However, the concept must not only be used to solve problems - the DMAIC cycle, a core process of the Six Sigma QM approach, is also based on the same principle of continuous improvement. The DMAIC process is mainly used to improve existing products.

If you have already dealt with the requirements of various DIN / ISO standards, you may have noticed that these are also based on the continuous improvement process. With the revision of ISO 9001 and ISO 14001, a High-Level Structure was introduced in the ISO standards. The individual standards are to be given a similar core structure to make them more comparable with each other and to facilitate the creation of future standards. ISO 9001: 2015 and ISO 14001 already have this High-Level Structure, which requires the implementation of the PDCA cycle in the company. Some chapters of the standards are based on phases of the PDCA: Chapters 5 Management, 6 Planning, 7 Support, 8 Operation, 9 Evaluation and Performance, and Chapter 10 Improvement. If you are aiming for certification of an ISO standard, it may be worthwhile for you to familiarize yourself with the principle beforehand.

With the qmBase software, you not only have a reliable solution for the implementation of your management systems, which also facilitates the implementation of a continuous improvement process. We as a company stand for continuous development. We work every day to make our software as efficient and effective as possible for you. We regularly track these improvements in our changelog so that you can gain an overview of the evolution of qmBase. We record our goals every six months in our roadmap. There you can see what we have planned for the next six months and which new features you can look forward to. If you have any further suggestions for improvement or ideas, please do not hesitate to contact us.

qmBase and the PDCA cycle

Whether you are aiming for ISO certification or want to make the management tasks of your company more efficient, qmBase will support you in your concerns. With our numerous apps, for example, we make things easier for you:

• The planning and implementation of audits
• The control of documents
• The efficient administration of employees
• The planning of training courses and much more...

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