Plan - Do - Check - Act
The Plan - Do - Check - Act (PDCA) cycle guides our thoughts when applying EMS. It is a
simple, yet very powerful technique that allows us to learn from and verify the effectiveness
of the improvement process.
Plan - We identify concerns or problems and gather information to provide a better
definition of the issue. Using the data that we have collected it is then possible to set objectives
or targets for improvement. In order to improve performance it is necessary to analyze the
cause of the issue and then to develop solutions to address the concern.
Do - In this step we implement the solution.
Check - The Check phase can be thought of as a
learning step and involves evaluating the results of
the improvement process. Did the solution have
an effect? Did it meet our expectations? If the
objectives that were set were not achieved,
then we must return to the Plan stage with the
knowledge that we have learned from the
improvement process and begin another cycle
of PDCA. If our expectations were met then we
can continue to the Act phase.
Act - Finally, we verify that the cause of the
problem has been permanently removed. The
solution can then be standardized, so that it becomes
the new way of working. We should also think about other
applications for the improvement.