what is PDCA Archives - Better Process Solutions

How to create standard work? Using PDCA to create the baseline for continuous improvement.

Although PDCA is a problem-solving tool, this methodology is excellent for any improvement activity. We followed PDCA while walking through the kaizen steps, and today we will use it to create standard work. In general, the following are the steps to create work standards. The figure below shows how they translate into the PDCA steps.

Understand the process, break down the job & question every detail
Develop a new method for performing the job
Run the process and observe results
If it is necessary, adapt the process and go back to step 4.
When you find the best method, create the standard

PDCA should be a team exercise, always recruit team members to analyze and create standards. The most important part of the PDCA cycle, understanding the problem is critical for its success. This statement remains true when we use PDCA to create standard work. Even if you know the process, ask what it is about, and what is supposed to accomplish. What is its purpose? If you can eliminate or combine the process, do it! If you cannot, then continue to understand the job sequence, breakdown the job, and question each step. Always observe the process and talk with the people who do the work.

The next step is to develop a new method. Engage the team in a brainstorming session for improvement ideas. Prioritize and select the best solutions to design a new way to perform the job. Use those ideas to design the safest, highest quality, and most efficient way to do the work. Test the new design, observe the process, and measure the results. All this is part of the step Do, the second of the PDCA cycle.

The third PDCA step is Check, which is what you will do while analyzing the results from your test drive. Does the new process achieve the objectives? Is this the best way to do the job? If it is, start to create the standard, which is the last PDCA step, Act. If it is not, modify or adapt the process.

If your test drive proves that you need to improve the new process further to accomplish the goals, modify it, and test it again as part of the PDCA step Act. You keep changing, testing, and analyzing until you reach the desired condition. When this happens, it is time to create the standard.

PDCA provides a framework that is easy to follow and repeat. In the same way that you can use it to standardize Kaizen, you can use it for your standard work creation also. Standard work is the baseline for future improvements. You create the standard, let the operation stabilize, and then improve the standard.

Business Performance

How do I prepare to reopen my business?

We are preparing to return to some kind of normalcy in our lives, including reopening our businesses. When we open the doors, the business situation will be very different from what it was before the pandemic crisis began. You had a vision for your business and a plan to drive you there, but now everything is different.

It is time to sit down and reflect on the future. The starting point will be to understand the challenges that are coming right to us. With the help of your team, answer the questions below and then update your business plan. Things like the sales forecasts, costs, and other assumptions will change.

Reopening implies changes, what needs to change in your operation?
Do you need to invest in protective equipment, such as acrylic panels or floor markings?
What new recurrent costs you will have to fulfill new safety requirements?
How the market will change?
Do your customers would need something different?
Does your value proposition need to change?

After adapting the business plan to the new environment, establish your new objectives and strategy. Rethink your business strategy carefully, how you guide your decision-making process from now on can be your competitive advantage.

Your business plan is your guide to the future you envision, but you also need short-term plans to prepare the operation for the new requirements. What processes have to change? Do you need to implement new processes to ensure your team and customers’ safety? Does the work area need changes to adapt to social distancing? How will you control traffic and flow?

Many tools will help you to analyze, design and test solutions, PDCA is one of them. To ensure everybody does the same thing standard work and visual management are important. Sometimes there is no time for a long analysis, but you can still practice continuous improvement. If you are not doing it already, build the habit to have daily meetings with your staff. We call them stand-up meetings, or daily huddles.

During them the team do a quick review of the operation the day before. The key here is to ask two important questions, what went well and what needs improvement. You want to discover the reason for the gap between desired and current state. A quick 5 Why discussion can lead to simple solutions that can be implemented during the shift.

From now on, the way to conduct business should be different. This is the time to prepare yourself and your business for the future. Given how fast everything changes with the development of the COVID-19 pandemic, the business of the future demands good leadership, employees and leaders engaged in common goals and flexibility. Continuous improvement and lean thinking promote that kind of behaviors.

Focus on the things you can control, take a deep breath and start creating your future. Be safe, stay well.

Tools

Why Plan is critical for the success of your PDCA?

Monday, I talked about what the PDCA cycle is. Today I want to highlight how critical the step Plan is.

Many times, while analyzing a problem, we don’t spend enough time understanding it. Instead of looking for the root cause of the problem, we start developing theories to correct the symptoms. If we create a plan to test possible solutions to the wrong problem, then the plan is doomed to fail.

The most important part of the PDCA cycle is understanding the problem. Get the background of the current situation. Even when you think you know the process, ask why it exists. Check the capability, expected outcomes, and actual performance. What value does it provide to the customer? Research regarding any possible risks, policies or regulations that can affect efficiency.

You must spend time observing what is going on. Go to gemba, where the action happens. Observe for as long as you can, and take notes to compare against all the data. You cannot have the whole story if you don’t go and see it for yourself. Go ahead and talk with your team, the people who do the work. Respectfully ask questions to understand the situation from their point of view.

After you know the process, define the problem. What is the gap between the expectation or goals and the current results? Describe the current situation using data, charts, tables or diagrams. Use tools like the 5 Whys and Fishbone diagrams to understand why that gap exists. It is critical for success that you identify the root cause of the problem. Otherwise, you will be working with symptoms and not the real problem.

Engage the team in the discussion of possible solutions. Go to gemba again and brainstorm with the people doing the work. If you find more than one root cause, rank them according to which has the greatest impact on the problem. At this point, you should have all the information you need to propose countermeasures or possible solutions. Tie your action items with the root cause while creating the plan. Who is responsible for doing what? How? Where? By when?

During this initial step, you determine the success of the PDCA exercise. You are trying to formulate theories to explain the gap between the standard and current performance, without the complete information, your theory will be wrong.