The_PDCA_Cycle
The_PDCA_Cycle
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00:00What is the PDCA cycle? PDCA stands for Plan, Do, Check and Act.
00:18The Plan, Do, Check and Act cycle is a foundation of all ISO management system standards. The
00:25cycle ensures development, continuous improvement and control of the management system in
00:29question. It's a simple tool that ensures consistent monitoring of your organisation's
00:35effectiveness. Plan. Establishing the architecture of your quality management system is covered
00:42in clause 4.1 of the standard. Do. Implementing the plans and using the quality management system.
00:51Check. Reviewing whether the results are satisfactory at appropriate intervals against
00:57the ISO 9001 requirements. Act. Improving the quality management system or acting on
01:06the challenges and issues found in the reviews. Plan. Management responsibility. The PDCA cycle
01:15starts with management as it's up to them to identify appropriate processes and relevant
01:21areas to focus. Process identification. Appropriate process identification is essential
01:28to a practical system and the key to start with two processes, management and operations,
01:34and then decide if sub-processes are necessary rather than working bottom up. Each process
01:40also has to have an owner that is responsible for the activities that relate to the success
01:46criteria of the process. Planning and review. In order to successfully plan your quality system
01:53before implementation, a quality manual and a number of documents outlining procedures are
01:58required. The areas of documentation are document control, records control, internal audit,
02:05non-conforming products, corrective action, preventative action. Additional procedures
02:12may be required if, without them, the process might end up having variable or unpredictable
02:18results, such as those caused by inexperienced staff, complicated parameters or other risks.
02:25The QMS is, after all, a system for minimising business risk.
02:32Fundamental directions. Owners or managers of your organisation should establish the
02:37fundamental direction of the QMS using the quality policy. There are several aspects that
02:43have to be thought through while designing the quality policy. Strategy should follow from the
02:49quality policy and the business environment. Process criteria should be aligned to the strategy.
02:56Customer focus. System processes have to be designed to ensure customer satisfaction.
03:03Resources. Human, technological and environmental resources have to be put in place. The QMS
03:09requires that each company establish a way that their staff are competent.
03:14Do. Implementation and use. Fundamental direction. Having established the system,
03:21it has to be used to see that it works in the way that it was intended. It will be necessary to use
03:26the procedures, forms, equipment and instructions in the way that they were planned. Don't worry
03:32if some of the steps don't apply to you. ISO 9001 certification is designed for every type
03:38of organisation. Just work on the aspects that are relevant to you. The direction for your management
03:45and the assigned resources should make this part of the process fairly easy to implement.
03:50It's important to plan and define the processes all along the supply chain. This might include
03:58sales, purchasing, research and development, manufacturing, delivery.
04:05Check. Review of results. At appropriate intervals, the results of the QMS should be reviewed.
04:11The intervals will be short when the system is new, but can be longer once the QMS becomes mature.
04:17The reporting of results against the process success criteria should be regular and be used
04:23by management to ensure that the business is on track. Records should be designed to facilitate
04:28prompt recording as well as early detection of problems. Don't worry if your organisation has
04:35some problems. Every organisation has them, but a successful one will identify these at an early
04:40stage and deal with them in an effective manner. A key milestone in evaluating the QMS is the
04:46management review, a meeting which assesses whether the QMS has succeeded in meeting strategic
04:54objectives, process success criteria and the ISO 9001 requirements. Reviewing perceived customer
05:03satisfaction is a key metric that has to be reviewed. It's recognised that the handling of
05:09complaints is not enough. Customers may just move their business to a competitor. Probably the most
05:14important characteristic of a successful quality management system is the internal audit. It's
05:20expected that an organisation that does not do internal audits is very likely to have their
05:25certification revoked if they've received the ISO 9001 certification, as their system is probably
05:32out of control. Act. Continuous improvement. Improvement is another name for dealing with
05:40challenges in an organisation. Challenges can be tackled either with corrective action or,
05:46preferably, with preventative action. All corrective actions need to be recorded
05:54and preventative actions designed for recurring problems.
06:00As a checklist, the following question should be asked. Customer focus. Have you found out
06:06what the customer's current and future needs and expectations are at a strategic level? Quality
06:13policy. Does it really suit your organisation and reflect your customers' expectations, your vision
06:19and mission and the requirements of the standard? Objectives. Are all the objectives measurable and
06:26linked in both the processes and to the strategies? Plan the system. Have all the responsibilities
06:33been identified and communicated? Does everybody know what they need to do to contribute to the
06:39success of the business and the QMS? Review at regular intervals. Are the results of the QMS
06:46being reviewed and compared against planned results? Is action being taken to improve areas
06:53where results are not quite as good as planned? Principles. Management should review the eight
06:59principles and how well the system delivers against these.