PDCA cycle (Japan)

 
Deming wheel evolves
According to Masaaki Imai, Japanese executives recast the Deming wheel presented in the 1950 JUSE seminars into the PDCA cycle.7 Table 1 shows Imai’s description of the relationship between the Deming
wheel and the PDCA cycle.
Imai did not provide details about which executives reworked the wheel or how they translated the Deming wheel into the PDCA cycle. No one has ever
claimed ownership of this revision or disputed Imai’s assertion.
The resulting PDCA cycle, shown in Figure 4 (p.26), shows the four-step cycle for problem solving. 
The cycle includes:
1. Plan: Define a problem and hypothesize possible
causes and solutions.
2. Do: Implement a solution.
3. Check: Evaluate the results.
4. Test the product in service and through market research. Find out what users think about it and why nonusers have not bought it.
The Deming wheel vs. the Japanese PDCA cycle / TAbLE 1
1. Design = plan
Product design corresponds to the planning phase of
management.
2. Production = do
Production corresponds to doing. making or working on
the product that was designed.
3. Sales = check
Sales figures confirm whether the customer is satisfied.
4. Research = act

If a complaint is filed, it must be incorporated into the
planning phase and action taken in the next round of
efforts
PDCA = plan-do-check-act
QP • www.qualityprogress.com
26

4. Act: Return to the plan step if the results are unsatisfactory, or standardize the solution if the results are satisfactory.
The PDCA cycle also emphasized the prevention of
error recurrence by establishing standards and the on-
going modification of those standards.
Once again, others wanted to enhance and revise
the cycle. This time, it was Kaoru Ishikawa. He rede-
fined the PDCA cycle to include more in the planning
step: determining goals and targets, and formulating
methods to reach those goals.8 Figure 5 shows the
PDCA cycle and incorporates Ishikawa’s changes.
In the do step, Ishikawa also included training and
education to go along with implementation. Ishikawa
said good control meant allowing standards to be re-
vised constantly to reflect the voices of consumers and
their complaints, as well as the requirements of the next
process. The concept behind the term “control” (kanri)
would be deployed throughout the organization.
The PDCA cycle, with Ishikawa’s updates and
improvements, can be traced back to S. Mizuno
of the Tokyo Institute of Technology in 1959. The
seven basic tools (check sheet, histograms, Pareto
chart, fishbone diagram, graphs, scatter diagrams
and stratification) highlight the central principle of
Japanese quality.9 These tools—together with the
PDCA cycle and the quality control (QC) story format—became
the
foundation
for improvement (kaizen) in Japan and are still being used today.

EDITOr’S NOTE:
One of the authors, Ronald D. Moen, had the unique opportunity to work
with W. Edwards Deming. From 1982-1986, Moen managed Deming’s
monthly visits to General Motors’ Pontiac Motor Division. at the time, Moen
worked as director of statistical methods. From 1982-1993, Moen assisted
Deming at 70 of his well-known four-day seminars. During that time, Deming
also reviewed several papers and a book Moen co-authored. Moen and
clifford l. Norman gave a presentation on the history of PDca at the asian
Network for quality conference last year in tokyo. some of the content of
this article was adapted from that presentation.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
the authors thank their colleagues at associates in Process improvement—
tom Nolan, Kevin Nolan, Jerry langley and lloyd Provost—who offered guid-
ance and worked on the Model for improvement.

rEFErENCES

1. louis Menand, The Metaphysical Club—A Story of Ideas in America, Farrar,
straus and Giroux, 2001.
2. larry a. Hickman and thomas M. alexander, eds., The Essential Dewey, Vol.
1, Pragmatism, Education, Democracy, indiana university Press, 1998.
3. clarence i. lewis, Mind and the World Order, reprinted by Dover Press,
1929.
4. Walter a. shewhart, Statistical Method From the Viewpoint of Quality Con-
trol, u.s. Department of agriculture, reprinted by Dover, 1939, p. 45.
5. ibid.
6. W. Edwards Deming, Elementary Principles of the Statistical Control of Qual-
ity, Japanese union of scientists and Engineers, 1950.
7. Masaaki imai, Kaizen: The Key to Japan’s Competitive Success, Random
House, 1986, p. 60.
8. Kaoru ishikawa, What is Total Quality Control? The Japanese Way, Prentice-
Hall, 1985, pp. 56-61.
9. Paul lillrank and Noriaki Kano, Continuous Improvement: Quality Control
Circles in Japanese Industry, center for Japanese studies, university of
Michigan, 1989, pp. 23-25.
10. Ronald D. Moen and clifford l. Norman, “the History of the PDca cycle,”
proceedings from the seventh asian Network for quality congress, tokyo,
sept. 17, 2009.
11. W. Edwards Deming, Out of the Crisis, Massachusetts institute of technol-
ogy Press, 1986, p. 88.
12. W. Edwards Deming, The New Economics, Massachusetts institute of
technology Press, 1993, p. 35.
13. Proceedings from the u.s. Government accounting Office’s Roundtable
Discussion Product quality—Japan vs. united states, 1980, p. 76, http://
archive.gao.gov/d46t13/087733.pdf.
14. Ronald D. Moen, thomas R. Nolan and lloyd P. Provost, Improving Quality
Through Planned Experimentation, McGraw-Hill, 1991, p. 11.
15. W. Edwards Deming, personal letter to Ronald D. Moen, Nov. 17, 1990.
16. Peter b. Peterson, “library of congress archives: additional information
about W. Edwards Deming (1900-1993),” Journal of Management History,
Vol. 3, No. 2, 1997, pp. 98-119.
17. Moen, Nolan and Provost, Improving Quality Through Planned Experimen-
tation, see reference 14.
18. Gerald langley, Kevin Nolan and thomas R. Nolan, “the Foundation of
improvement,” Quality Progress, June 1994, p. 81.
19. Gerald langley, Kevin Nolan, thomas R. Nolan, clifford l. Norman and lloyd
P. Provost, The Improvement Guide, Jossey-bass, 1996, p. 10.
20. Gerald langley, Kevin Nolan, thomas R. Nolan, clifford l. Norman and
lloyd P. Provost, The Improvement Guide, second edition, Jossey-bass,
2009, p. 24.

CLIFFORD L. NORMAN is a partner at Associates in
Process Improvement. He has a master’s degree in
behavioral science from California State University at
Dominquez Hills. He is a senior member of ASQ.

RONALD D. MOEN is a partner at Associates in
Process Improvement in Georgetown, TX. He has a
master’s degree in statistics from the University of
Missouri in Columbia. He is a member of ASQ and
received ASQ’s Deming Medal in 2002.


source:
        Circling back : clearing up myths about the Deming cycle and seeing how it keeps on evolving, by Ronald D. Moen and Clifford L. Norman
        November 2010 • QP
        QP • www.qualityprogress.com

        filename in use:  circling-back.pdf
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