These two acronyms are used extensively in the Lean Six Sigma process and it would be wise to remember what they are and how they are used in structuring strategies for continuous improvement and problem statement resolutions.
Plan Do Check Act
- Specific target or goal
- Measurable metrics
- Actionable and achievable
- Reasonable methods and expectations
- Time sensitive
Plan, Do, Check, Act is a four-step process that Francis Bacon, Walter Shewhart and Ed Deming made famous. It is used, tactically, to address new projects as well as corrective action when dealing with project or problem statements. When the statement is addressed and logged (typically) in a Master Control Log, a change agent or team is assigned to execute the project by developing, applying the plan (DO), reevaluating the progress (CHECK), and implementing further corrections and modifications (ACT). This process is repeated thereby improving the core of the project “continuously.”
You have a task, and as a result develop, a plan using a modified scientific principle to create the process. It is used in many instances, but is a primary tool used in the Hoshin Kanri, or strategic deployment process. PDCA is extensively and widely used to create the best solution possible. It is wise to know this part of Lean to be effective in scientific solution based processes.
Plan: This is the phase where you determine what your problem or business statement is; where you gather up the history, ideas, options, and subsequently, a hypothesis is developed that sounds like this:
“If we do this, then this should happen.”
“If we change our eating and exercise habits, I’ll lose weight.”
“If I study hard, I’ll pass the test.”
In this hypothesis, you develop a step-by-step game plan consisting of manpower, equipment, materials, processes, money to make it happen and so forth.
Prior to this step, I introduce the “scan” phase. Much like what the word says, and though taken for granted, the process is not formalized or standardized into what I called “SMART” design, representing the acronym:
Taking into account of the strength, weakness, opportunity and threat (SWOT) factors, the hypothesis provides a direction where a plan of action or design is created. Bear in mind, this plan of action does not mean it'll work. It's part of a strategy to put a hypothesis to a plan.
It would be prudent to collect as many facts and data prior to the SMART or Plan design phase to ensure the next or “Do” phase’s success.
Do: This is where you test the plan. What’s key here is that you measure the results for analysis. As per in the Plan phase, the hope on the Do phase is to check if the plan meets all quality standards or targets drafted in the Plan phase. If the failures are such that the Plan does or not succeed, even partially, the PDCA project is returned to the Plan stage for evaluation and redesign, and returned for retesting when appropriate.
Check: The Check phase is when the project passes the DO phase successfully and then verified and validated to ensure that the process can consistently maintain its quality performance in the long run, can be repeated and reproduced, consistently and optimized. There’s been instances when a design passes the Do or test phase with flying colors but, when produced in considerable batches, under the same conditions, fail to meet critical to quality standards. In this way to measure the results, finding successes and failures, the Check phase opens up discussions and decisions to modify the plan to eliminate the causes for failure and keep what is working.
Act: Once it reaches this phase, the goal is to sustain momentum. The Best Practice to accomplish this is to write Standard Operating Procedures (SOP), work instructions and job aids; train; and, audit. This Standardized Work process is part of a Lean process that will be explained in another part of this book. One further note is that once it reaches the Standardized Work phase, kaizens are submitted to improve on the processes which then repeats the Scan, PDCA procedure.
Prior to a PDCA, a Scan phase is implemented which is to gather as much background, history, facts and data pertinent to the subject matter. Information is gathered through categories as identified from the Ishikawa Fishbone, those subsets as: People, Equipment, Material, Processes and Environment.
DMAIC, or as many of us pronounce dah-MAY-ick, is an acronym that represents the following terms:
The biggest complaints about this process is that if a conclusion is not made within the desired deadline, expensive resources were devoted to time and money that will never be recovered.
On a final note, these concepts are used in both the Kanzen Event and Project Charters on
A3 or A4 formats.
Instead of writing reams of reports, the information can be consolidated in either an A3 (11" x 14") or A4 (8 1/2 x 11) formats.
The only difference is their size.
- Define - In a problem resolution process, the first step in a Six Sigma routine is to define what the problem is. Most of the time, the scope is too large and requires to be broken down into smaller and workable pieces. This work breakdown structure or WBS outcome is revealed after the project charter team meet and brainstorm using affinity diagrams and a multi-voting process. This stratification cascades down to individual objective statements that end up being separate Project Charters.
- Measure – The measure phase is unique in that data mining requires a targeted effort, otherwise, the collection method will end up “wasting” time, money, and energy not getting anything done. Here the team uses methods such as Measure System Analysis and Gage R&R to collect the required Key Performance Indicators to achieve their goals.
- Analyze – Once data is collected, specific tools are used to determine the outcomes and how they’re related to the problems statement.
- Improve - A corrective action is implemented.
- Control – A preventive action is created and implemented.
The biggest complaints about this process is that if a conclusion is not made within the desired deadline, expensive resources were devoted to time and money that will never be recovered.
On a final note, these concepts are used in both the Kanzen Event and Project Charters on
A3 or A4 formats.
Instead of writing reams of reports, the information can be consolidated in either an A3 (11" x 14") or A4 (8 1/2 x 11) formats.
The only difference is their size.
