Plan Do Study Adjust- The Engine of Continuous Improvement

Continuous improvement is of necessity in the very DNA of our shops.

In ISO 9000:2000 Section 8.5.1 read :
The organization shall continually improve the effectiveness of the quality management system through the use of the quality policy, quality objectives, audit results, analysis of data, corrective and preventive action, and management review. 
In TS16949:2009 it read:
8.5.1.1 Continual Improvement of the Organization
The organization must define a process for continual improvement .
8.5.1.2 Manufacturing Process Improvement
Manufacturing process improvement must continually focus on control and reduction of variation in product characteristics and manufacturing process parameters.
The standard defined continual improvement as : “recurring activity to increase the ability to fulfill requirements.”
Recurring activity. To me that means cycle.

Karen Martin shared this graphical representation of PDSA in her book The Outstanding Organization.
Plan. Do. Study. Adjust.
This is the process of continuous (continual) improvement.
Plan. Do. Study. Adjust.
It’s what we do.
If this sounds familiar, it is because I first wrote about this here Karen Martin
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