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though their products were cheap, they were considered of poor quality. Today, however,
Japanese products are known for their quality and reliability.
How did this happen?
The Japanese companies undertook major steps, such as having their management personally
take charge of the quality function; having quality‐related training throughout the company
hierarchy; and adopting the QC Circle concept as a means of enabling the workforce to
participate in the quality activities of the company.
The Union of Japanese Scientists and Engineers, organized in 1946, played a major role in the
training of management and engineers on quality.
It organized in 1949, its Quality Control Research Group (QCRG), which was tasked with
studying the international quality control field for information on how to rationalize the war‐
torn Japanese industries, how to improve quality of exports, and how to raise the living
standards of the Japanese.
The QC Circle provides an opportunity for members to develop their creative thinking as they
look for better ways to do their work, which is imperative as customers become more
demanding and their needs become more varied and complex.
They understand their work better, they see their importance in the company, they enhance
their analytical skills, and they learn new things, not just about their jobs but also about their
company: its vision, mission, and goals; its convention; its partners; its suppliers; and the
requirements of its customers.
And as the QC Circle matures through the years, the members become involved in the
improvement efforts of the company; and for them to participate actively, the various
members’ training needs, which become diverse over time, must be addressed.
Therefore, companies that have implemented QC Circles have established a training program
for their Circle members.
The QC Circle activities are essential for the operators but also for the management, as such
activities are designed to improve the relationship between the two.
It is most important that every member be given sufficient opportunity to participate and
contribute.
We can form teams within existing work units, or have inter‐departmental teams for better
networking to address common cross‐departmental issues.
A typical team is generally made up of Members, managed by a Leader, and represented by a
Facilitator who can link the WITS to external resources and champion the WITS to others in
the organization.
Members contribute ideas, help shape solutions and analyze the data collected.
Active participation from all members is crucial.
Every member of WITS should help one another, so that every member can learn from one
another and projects can be completed efficiently and effectively.
Note: A new manager within a department should start off as a member, not necessarily a
leader until he/she gathers sufficient training or knowledge of WIT tools.
PDCA stands for
PLAN ‐ DO ‐ CHECK ‐ ACTION.
1. It is also known as the Deming Cycle or Control Cycle.
2. It is a 4stage problemsolving process to achieve goals and objectives set.
3. It is a systematic way for solving problem even for the most simple task.
4. It allows a stepbystep approach to problemsolving.
1. Select a problem to tackle.
2. Collect data to establish present situations.
3. Find ways to solve the problem.
4. Choose the best way of doing it.
5. Implement the new procedure or method.
Let's look at the detailed steps in each stage, and describe the improvement tools that can be
employed at each stage of the cycle.
The table below shows the various steps as well as the basic and advanced tools that can be
used during each step.
Teams need not use all the tools at once, but should assess the situation at hand before
selecting the most appropriate tool.
The table below shows the various steps as well as the basic and advanced tools that can be
used during each step.
Teams need not use all the tools at once, but should assess the situation at hand before
selecting the most appropriate tool.
2. The project themes could be shortlisted based on the Team’s Motto.
They are then ranked using a set of selection criteria and rating scale in the Matrix
Diagram.
Score the various project by team consensus.
3. Once the most important and pressing problem is selected, the reason for choosing it
must be explained.
This project theme will be ‘narrowed‐down’ further in Step 3: Grasp The Present Status.
2. A Gantt Chart may be drawn to show how many days, weeks or months it will take up to
complete each step in the PDCA Cycle.
The team must show the ‘Planned’ and ‘Actual’ period for each step.
3. The team must explained why there is a variance in the ‘Planned’ and ‘Actual’ period.
The delay or early completion must be due to reasons that cannot be anticipated during
Planning.
Even when the ‘Planned’ and ‘Actual’ period are similar, members must explained how
this is possible.
2. Data to show ‘how bad’ the present situation is could be collected from a survey, an
interview or checking past and present records.
A check sheet could be used to consolidate the data collected.
3. A careful thought should be given to determine the most crucial factor based on the 80‐20
principle.
A Pareto Diagram may be constructed to check the vital factor(s) from the trivial many.
The team may decide to ‘narrow‐down’ on only the vital factor(s), or on any impact
area(s) selected.
When there are 3 factors or less, make use of the Bar Chart.
Here, the team may consider the problem as a whole as there are no trivial many.
2. Setting target gives the team a goal it can work towards.
Members may make use of the TET approach to set the target (i.e. Talent, Energy & Time).
Conduct experiments to decide on the target whenever possible.
Check the trend to determine the lowest indicator.
This indicator can be used to establish the reduction expected for each factor.
3. Target should be set in term of percentages and should be realistic and achievable but yet
challenging for the team.
A serious effort must be made to explain how the target is set.
2. A Cause & Effect Diagram may be utilized to identify all the Possible Causes of the
problem.
The team should isolate the Root Causes (or main causes/true causes) from among all the
Possible Causes.
These Root Causes must be verified.
This can be done through a survey or interview, by checking records or by observations.
3. The team should come up with the Counter‐Measures to eliminate the Root Causes.
From the Root Causes, the team should use the Corrective Action Table to determine a few
Alternative Solutions.
There should be at least 2 alternatives for analysis.
All Alternative Solutions must be viable and practical, and the best set of Alternative is
chosen as the Proposed Solution.
The team must have the plan to overcome any disadvantage(s) for the Proposed Solution.
2. The Proposed Solution when implemented should not disrupt the next step in the work
process.
Show the dates for the various activities that took place.
3. When implementing a Proposed Solution, Problems Encountered by the team must be
identified and members must find ways to overcome the problems faced.
This can be explained during the Team’s Project Summation.
2. A Pareto Comparison or a Bar Chart Comparison could be used to present the changes
diagrammatically.
If the target has still not been achieved, the team may return to any of the earlier step to
investigate.
Any variance in target set/achieved or how the target set/achieved is similar must be
explained.
2. It should preferably be put in an official manner for future reference.
The dates and duration for all activities must be stated.
3. In the Follow‐Up Action, team members periodically monitor the new status of the
process to ensure that the desired results are maintained.
This can be illustrated using the Follow‐Up Action Table.
The dates for all these activities must also be stated.
If necessary, further improvements may be made to fine‐tune the new method or
procedure.
The frequency of monitoring could be reduced over a period of time (e.g. a year later).
The frequency could be reduced as the new procedure should have been established.
Also, the team members may have another completed project to monitor.
PDCA is a systematic problemsolving process.
It enables the Team to identify and analyze areas for improvement, come up with
Alternative Solutions, check if the Proposed Solution works, and ensure that the
solution is properly implemented.
The PDCA procedure utilizes the various WIT tools.
The tools do not provide the solutions but they aid the Team in noting the facts
diagrammatically.
This allows members to visualize the problem at hand clearly.