Common Mistakes in Running PDCA: A Survey on University Student PDCA Projects

Abstract

The main purpose of this paper is to present common mistakes in running Plan-Do-Check-Act (PDCA) project by using case study. New practitioners with petite knowledge are having a high tendency to perform simple mistakes in conducting PDCA project. The study focused on the projects conducted by Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) manufacturing students as approaches. The mistakes are collected during the project presentation and finalized by the Lean Six Sigma (LLS) experts. A questionnaire survey was sent to LSS experts to rate the high impact mistakes according to their experiences and knowledge. In total, there are 12 mistakes listed coverall to all PDCA phases. Five mistakes are highlighted as high impact mistakes according to 80-20 rules of Pareto. The findings emphasize some ideas that might help new practitioner to avoid such mistakes. However, the case study presented only focus on the mistakes in project conducted by university students not a practitioner in industries.