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Total Quality Management

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PDCA analysis on Nissan Motors Case Study

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Ma’moun Haddad
Spring 2016
Word Count: 692

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 Ma’moun Haddad
Dr. Sandra Hamden
13 August y

PDCA Analysis
Nissan Motors

Introduction & Literature Review:

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In order to fully comprehend and effectively analyse Nissan Motors case study, the

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premises (PDCA, Deming Cycle) should be defined. The following is a brief literature review

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covering the cycle.
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1) Plan: The planning stage includes recognising an opportunity and planning a change
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2) Do: The “do” stage has to do with testing the change while carrying out a small-
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scale study.

3) Check: The checking stage allows the monitoring and review of the test. It moves
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forward by analysing the results and identifying what is learnt.

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4) Act: The “act” stage determines the following action that will be done after the
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study. At this point, if the change did not work, the cycle should be implemented again
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with a different plane. However if successful, include what was learnt and incorporate the

test into wider changes. It is noteworthy to mention that this cycle is never-ending, there-

for new improvement plans should continuously be developed while repetition of the

stages throughout the life of the organisation.

Analysis (PDCA) Nissan:

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 The ‘Plan’ Stage begins with analyse. In this step, Nissan need to analyse the needs

of the automotive consumers in order to know where their heading to and what sort of plan to

implement. In the case study given, Nissan Motor establishes the fact that the automotive in-

dustry has been rapidly changing. Additionally they have realised that it is leading to “one of

the greatest engineering competition in history”. Nissan Motors were willing to participate in

this competition in order to fully take advantage of the opportunity that now exists (engineer-

ing competition). The challenges were identified:

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1) Demand for environmentally friendly vehicles.

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2) On-going time-to-market pressures.

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3) Global Markets & Global Supply Chains
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After the challenges were identified, in order for Nissan Motors to ensure that they were one
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of the winners, the company has decided to start implementing the comprehensive plan ‘V-

3P’ (standing for the value up for product, process and program innovation). Introducing this
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plan includes the use of innovative programs by Siemens (I-deas and NX). These softwares

allow Nissan to streamlining processes while also shortening timelines (Please see appendix 1
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for more details on how this works). Moreover, the ability to share information throughout
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the organisation “even to those who don’t use the technical application.”

The ‘do’ stage begins with aligning the staff of Nissan Motors with the new software.

This considers teaching the organisations employees how to use the softwares and describes

to them the advantages. After the alignment sub stage, Nissan Motors starts with the ‘act’ sub

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 stage in which employees are given specific instruction while freedom with control. At this

point, Nissan Motors starts testing the new software introduced with the 3-VP plan in order to

manufacture new vehicles.

The ‘check’ stage is when Nissan Motors assess the new implementation of the pro-

gram. At this point the organisation monitors and reviews the test. Nissan were able to be suc-

cessful on all counts (Reduction of time-to-market, Enhancing Quality and improving Global

supply chains). Nissan has produced four vehicles so far through the new 3-VP plan soft-

wares in which they have reduced the development cycle from 20 to 10.5 month. The quality

has improved and it was determined through the witnessing of a reduction in design changes

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by up to 90% (more details on the act stage) as well as comparing the number of reported

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problems after a vehicle was released to market with the data they had before hand (when the

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3-VP plan and new softwares were not introduced.) Please see appendix 2 for more details on
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how they reduced problems.
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The ‘act’ stage for Nissan Motors was fairly simple. All of their assigned objectives
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were achieved and thus implementation of the new 3-VP plan was a success. It is noteworthy

to mention though that the case study given does not include any of the further actions Nissan
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took after the success. That said, it does not mean that Nissan stopped there. They would

eventually incorporate what was learnt into wider changes in the organisation and continually
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try to improve their processes, people and product through the repetition of the cycle.
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 Appendix 1

“The V-3P program as Ghosn originally conceived it had two goals: to get new vehicles to the

market faster and to increase product quality. Siemens’ soft- ware plays key roles in both ar-

eas. NX and I-deas, for example, form the basis for what the company calls “Know-How

CAD,” a system of knowledge capture and re-use that includes the entire team, from design

engineers to suppliers.”

“There are two aspects of Know-How CAD, process knowledge and product knowledge”, ex-

plains Fukushi. “With Know-How CAD, younger engineers have access to historical data and

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ideas; knowledge is accessed and leveraged. And thus processes are streamlined and time-

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lines are shortened. Know-How CAD enables a team to be more efficient and more innova-

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tive, and allows younger engineers to achieve the same results as more experienced engi-
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neers.”
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Appendix 2
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“Digital data created in I­deas and NX forms the basis for virtual validation, which is a key
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way Nissan is shortening the development cycle. “Virtual validation helps us and problems
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very early in the design process,” Fukushi says. “If you don’t and those problems until you
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make a physical prototype, it’s too late in the process and very expensive, plus it may cause

changes to many other pieces of the vehicle. A virtual test can happen very early and it allows

us to implement countermeasures before other parts of the vehicle are fixed. Finding issues

earlier also gives you more time to work through design alternatives to nd the best overall so­

lution or countermeasure.” 

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