Let’s take a furniture factory as an example. The management wants to increase the output of cabinets. They notice that most of the cupboard is finished quickly, but they regularly wait for their round feet. At this point, a PDCA cycle should help.
During the planning phase (plan), you notice that the lathe used to produce round objects is prone to errors. Often the excess has to be disposed of, which not only slows down the production chain, but also leads to unnecessary additional expenditure. So they are planning to buy a more modern machine. Instead of directly replacing all the relevant machines, you start with just one to test the success.
In the second step (do), the new machine is tested in practice. The work completed with the new machine is checked for one month. At the same time, however, the older machines continue to run. This gives those responsible the advantage that they can now see exactly whether the investment in the new machine is worthwhile.
One notices that although the production error has been contained, the production speed has hardly increased at all. In the third phase (check), this problem is analyzed and it is recognized that the employees are so used to the old machine that they still have difficulties using the new one just as efficiently.
Therefore, the plan will now be amended and then fully implemented in the final phase (act): All machines are now replaced and at the same time, the employees receive detailed instruction on the new equipment. As a result, production of the cabinets is significantly accelerated and scrap is minimized. The company now accepts the new production speed as standard.