The PDCA cycle, otherwise known as the Deming Cycle, was created by American statistician W. Edwards Deming.  Deming was instrumental in the revitalisation of Japanese business after the second world war and also helped to popularise Total Quality Management (TQM).

The PDCA cycle consists of four stages:

1. Plan
2. Do
3. Check
4. Act

1. Planning

What is the current situation?  What objective do you want to achieve?  How can this be done and what processes will be required?

2. Do

Implementation of the new processes.

3. Check

Measure the new processes and check against the previous results.

4. Act

Analyse these results and determine what action to take as a result.

Benefits of using the PDCA Cycle

• Daily routine management-for the individual and/or the team,
• The problem solving process,
• Project management,
• Continuous development,
• Vendor development,
• Human resources development,
• New product development, and
• Process trials.