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The cycle begins with planning, either a change for improvement or a test of a potential improvement. If we are to produce high quality, we must plan to do so. We must envision the problems we will face, and devise ways to counter them. When it comes to our operating processes, we must also determine in advance what quality parameters we will be tracking, and how we will track them. Once we have planned for all of the apparent considerations, we move to the next stage.
The second stage in the process is doing - it is implementing the plan, according to plan. Ideally, we would carry out a small scale test of our improvements before implementing them on a wider basis. During this period, we collect information or data on how the process performs. This is the stage at which we monitor all of the factors that we believe may influence the process. At this point, we are most interested in collecting data, not in determining what the data are saying. That is a matter for the third stage.
The third stage sees us studying the effects of the process as described by the data we collected on it. For the most part, we are interested in the variation of our processes, and the deviation from standards that we have set or come to expect. Here, we are trying to analyze the data, and determine what they are saying.
The fourth stage sees us acting on the lessons of the previous three stages. This is where we devise improvements that are built upon all that we know up to that point in time. Our aim is to envision improvements that counter or eliminate deviation and variation. Then the process starts over again with planning. That is, planning to implement the improvements that we devised in the third stage. And so on, and so on, forever and ever, unto the unattainable and ever-worthy goal of absolute quality excellence.
You may never "get there", but just remember:
It's about the journey, not the destination.
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