CAT:PDCA is an essential staple in any Quality Program

The Benefits of PDCA

Use this cycle for continual process improvement

by Corinne N. Johnson, editorial assistant

This article was featured in January 2016's Best Of Back to Basics edition.

The plan-do-check-act (PDCA) cycle is a well-known model for continual process improvement (CPI). 1 It teaches organizations to plan an action, do it, check to see how it conforms to the plan, and act on what has been learned. 2

The PDCA cycle is made up of four steps for improvement or change (see Figure 1): 3

Give an example of the use of PDCA.

How can one apply PDCA to their daily life?