Work your Plan with Lean PDCA
Work your Plan with Lean PDCA
Over the past year I have shared with you business tools that I have found to be effective in helping you run your laboratory efficiently and profitability. I would be remiss if I did not introduce you to a popular lean tool referred to as PDCA.
For example, this tool helped a laboratory I work with resolve a gassing problem that plagued the porcelain team on and off for over five years. The PDCA process identified contaminated hemostats at the root cause.
What is PDCA?
PDCA stands for plan, do, check and act. It is a four-step, problem-solving process used by companies all over the world and in wide reaching industries such as manufacturing, transactional and healthcare. The concept behind PDCA finds its roots in the scientific method which in general terms has us make an observation, ask a question, form a hypothesis, conduct an experiment, and then either accept or reject the hypothesis.
The PDCA cycle was originated by the pioneer statistician Walter Shewhart who developed statistical process control at the Bell Laboratories during the 1930s. The PDCA cycle is also known as Deming Wheel, after Shewhart's student Dr. W. Edwards Deming popularized PDCA when he introduced the idea to post-war Japanese industry, resulting in the kaizen approach in lean as we know it today.
Plan
To start the process, we first plan the improvement by clearly and objectively stating the problem while also giving some background and context so that everyone involved gains a common understanding of the issue. We also work to identify root causes using tools like five why analysis as well as tools like brainstorming to develop potential countermeasures that can be implemented during the do phase.
Another key aspect of the plan phase is to identify what our target condition is while developing an actual plan detailing, at a minimum, who will do the action, what the action is, and when it will be done. In other words, we need to determine how we want things to look and what we need to do to get there.
The popular tool called five why is a problem-solving method used to explore the cause and effect relationships of a particular problem. Taiichi Ohno, one of the chief architects of the Toyota production system, once said that five why analysis was the basis of Toyota's scientific approach. He went on to say that by repeating why five times, the nature of the problem as well as its solution become clear. Simply put, what Ohno was saying was to not make your method of analysis over complicated; instead just pursue the root cause persistently.
The first step of the five why analysis is to simply write the problem down. After this we ask why the problem exists. At this stage it's important to keep the answers short and to the point. The third step is to continue asking why on the same point of cause until the root cause or causes are identified. This is very important as we must be sure to stay focused on the same problem instead of asking five different whys on five different problems. Another important point I'd like to make is that even though the name of this tool is called five why, it doesn't mean that we have to end up with exactly five whys. Sometimes we'll have more and sometimes we'll have less.
Do
After the plan phase we arrive at do, which has us following the scientific method to test the hypothesis. To do this we change things, and if the change isn't good, we change it again until it's better. Some actually call this trystorming. Now, an important point to remember during this phase is rather than waiting for one perfect solution, we should try many small things that can be done quickly.
Finally, during the do phase we want to gather data based on direct observation of the experiment. In other words, we must go to gemba, or the place the work is done, in order to see what's actually happening with our own eyes.
Check
After the do phase is check, sometimes referred to as study. During this phase it's time to face the facts while reflecting carefully on what worked and what didn't work with the experiments. In each case, we want to ask why until there is a clear understanding of what was effective and what wasn't.
Lastly, during the check phase we need to practice something in lean often called hansei, which is often translated as reflection or even repentance. In other words, practicing hansei affords us the opportunity to truly reflect on what went right and more importantly what went wrong allowing us to learn and adapt to these issues.
Act
Finally, we come to the fourth phase of act, sometimes referred to as adjust, which has us working to understand why things might not have turned out like we'd thought they would as well as what changes to make as we prepare to turn the PDCA cycle once again. Or, if the experiment proved successful we'll standardize and share this success throughout the laboratory. This horizontal deploying or copying of ideas that have worked throughout the organization is a key aspect of the way companies like Toyota work.
In summary, PDCA is a tried and proven tool set that you and your team can utilize to help diagnose and solve problems in your laboratory in a through and consistent manner. Please feel free to contact me if you would like further information on PDCA.
References: The Toyota Way, J.Liker, D. Meier, The Lean Leap, Byron Headrick, Gemba Academy, R. Perera
