Plan Do Check Act

Walter Andrew Shewhart (1891 - 1967) was an American physicist, engineer and statistician, and is known as the father of statistical quality control. While working for Bell Laboratories, Shewhart developed a process that included design, performing, verifying results and acting on those results. Shewhart was a friend and mentor to William Edwards Deming (1900 - 1993), an American statistician, college professor, author, lecturer, and consultant. Deming is best known for his work in Japan after WWII, where he is regarded as having had more impact upon Japanese manufacturing and business than any other individual not of Japanese heritage.

In the 1950's, Deming proposed that business processes should be analyzed and measured to identify sources of variations that cause products to deviate from customer requirements. He recommended that business processes be placed in a continuous feedback loop so that managers can identify and change the parts of the process that need improvements. Deming created a diagram to illustrate the continuous process idea of Shewhart, and while it is known as both the Deming Cycle and the Shewhart Cycle, it is best known as the PDCA cycle for Plan, Do, Check, Act.

TTFN, Fred.

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PDCA