What would Deming do? Each night when Toyota's troubles are discussed on the evening news, I can't help thinking about Dr. Deming. What would he say? From his perspective, what went wrong?

 

This is a great opportunity to consider the Deming Cycle.

 

Plan: Set objectives for success, perform a gap analysis, define action steps to close the gap, establish measures to ensure the gap was closed.

Do: Develop and implement a project to close the identified gaps, perhaps on a small scale such as a pilot so the results can be checked.

Check: Compare the results to the objectives established during the Plan stage and determine if a gap still exists. Gaps don't necessarily require closure. A gap may be considered tolerable if the actual performance is within allowable limits of performance. A scary prospect given the Toyota situation! The expected output of the Check stage is recommendations for improvement.

Act: Take action on the recommendations from the Check stage. Make a decision...keep the status quo, close the gap, or add necessary resources if it is determined that further work is required to close remaining gaps. Decisions at this stage are the input for the next round of the PDCA cycle.