{"id":2881,"date":"2010-07-14T04:13:27","date_gmt":"2010-07-14T11:13:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/?p=2881"},"modified":"2014-10-01T14:53:26","modified_gmt":"2014-10-01T19:53:26","slug":"lean-six-sigma-plan-do-check-act-pdca-and-a3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/lean-six-sigma-plan-do-check-act-pdca-and-a3\/2881\/","title":{"rendered":"PDCA Cycle and A3 Problem Solving"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"a296a24fa2fc69ef5487857f02f111e8\" data-index=\"9\" style=\"float: none; margin:10px 0 10px 0; text-align:center;\">\n<script async src=\"\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js\"><\/script>\r\n<!-- Single Post readerboard -->\r\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\"\r\n     style=\"display:inline-block;width:728px;height:90px\"\r\n     data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-8207522353004717\"\r\n     data-ad-slot=\"1144967431\"><\/ins>\r\n<script>\r\n(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\r\n<\/script>\n<\/div>\n<p>PDCA Cycle and A3 Problem Solving are clearly related. It&#8217;s not just the <a title=\"a3 report at toyota\" href=\"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/the-toyota-a3-report\/363\/\">A3 Report<\/a>. For one, the PDCA Cycle is used in the creation of A3 Reports. For another, the foundation of both come from Deming.<\/p>\n<p>PS: <a title=\"free a3 template download\" href=\"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/toyota-a3-template-download\/\">Get the A3 Report Template Download for Free<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Compared to the DMAIC Framework of Six Sigma, Plan-Do-Check-Act (PDCA) in Lean Thinking is much simpler, yet incredibly powerful. Let me explain each step in the PDCA Framework <sup class='footnote'><a href='#fn-2881-1' id='fnref-2881-1' onclick='return fdfootnote_show(2881)'>1<\/a><\/sup>.<\/p>\n<h2>Plan<\/h2>\n<p>Recognize an opportunity and plan a change.<\/p>\n<h2>Do<\/h2>\n<p>Test the change. Carry out a small-scale study.<\/p>\n<h2>Check<\/h2>\n<p>Review the test, analyze the results and identify what you&#8217;ve learned.<\/p>\n<h2>Act<\/h2>\n<p>Take action based on what you learned in the Check step: If the change did not work, go through the cycle again with a different plan. If you were successful, incorporate what you learned from the test into wider changes. Use what you learned to plan new improvements, beginning the cycle again.<\/p>\n<p>PDCA is meant to be applied as a cycle: continually testing your hypothesis, learning, and then trying a new way of operating. Visually, it looks like this:<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-2886 aligncenter\" title=\"pdca-a3-lean-thinking-abilla-shmula\" src=\"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/06\/pdca-a3-lean-thinking-abilla-shmula.jpg\" alt=\"pdca-a3-lean-thinking-abilla-shmula\" width=\"793\" height=\"534\" srcset=\"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/06\/pdca-a3-lean-thinking-abilla-shmula.jpg 793w, https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/06\/pdca-a3-lean-thinking-abilla-shmula-600x404.jpg 600w, https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/06\/pdca-a3-lean-thinking-abilla-shmula-300x202.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 793px) 100vw, 793px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Continuing the PDCA Cycle has two important unsaid components:<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>It&#8217;s okay to make a mistake &#8211; but a very measured mistake<\/li>\n<li>It&#8217;s okay to try new things &#8211; but learn and be surgical in the approach<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<h2>The Toyota A3 Report<\/h2>\n<p>Plan-Do-Check-Act (PDCA) is, in itself, already simple and practical. To add a level of discipline to it, PDCA is often manifested in an A3 Report.<\/p>\n<p>A3, as practiced at Toyota, is the discipline and the output of PDCA. A3 is technically a paper size &#8211; 11 x 17 &#8211; but there is a level of the A3 that quite powerful and goes beyond the size of the paper.<\/p>\n<p>The A3 Report forces discipline in our thinking and also allows for a venue to share our findings on one sheet of paper.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-2888 aligncenter\" title=\"A3-report-pdca-a3-lean-thinking-abilla-shmula\" src=\"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/06\/A3-report-pdca-a3-lean-thinking-abilla-shmula.jpg\" alt=\"A3-report-pdca-a3-lean-thinking-abilla-shmula\" width=\"741\" height=\"576\" srcset=\"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/06\/A3-report-pdca-a3-lean-thinking-abilla-shmula.jpg 741w, https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/06\/A3-report-pdca-a3-lean-thinking-abilla-shmula-600x466.jpg 600w, https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/06\/A3-report-pdca-a3-lean-thinking-abilla-shmula-300x233.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 741px) 100vw, 741px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Here is a <a title=\"a3 report example, pdca\" href=\"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/toyota-a3-template-download\/\">downloadable A3 Report Example<\/a>. Read through each section &#8211; the simplicity is deceptive. Creating an A3 is actually very difficult work, but quite a learning experience and very effective.<\/p>\n<p>In the next post in the Lean and Six Sigma series, I&#8217;ll show how to practically integrate the PDCA framework of Lean with the DMAIC framework of Six Sigma.<\/p>\n<div class='footnotes' id='footnotes-2881'>\n<div class='footnotedivider'><\/div>\n<ol>\n<li id='fn-2881-1'> I cite and use Dr. Sobek&#8217;s work in explaining the A3 <span class='footnotereverse'><a href='#fnref-2881-1'>&#8617;<\/a><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/div>\n<!--CusAds0-->\n<div style=\"font-size: 0px; height: 0px; line-height: 0px; margin: 0; padding: 0; clear: both;\"><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>PDCA Cycle and A3 Problem Solving are clearly related. It&#8217;s not just the A3 Report. For one, the PDCA Cycle is used in the creation of A3 Reports. For another, the foundation of both come from Deming. PS: Get the A3 Report Template Download for Free. Compared to the DMAIC Framework of Six Sigma, Plan-Do-Check-Act [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12327,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>A3 Problem Solving using PDCA<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"PDCA Cycle and A3 Problem Solving is an article that shows how PDCA is used in the creation of A3 Reports.\" \/>\n<meta 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