SQDC

Acronym for Safety, Quality, Delivery and Cost.
Refers to a SQDC board placed in a process area, to quickly convey how the process is performing against these 4 categories.
For example, Safety would measure whether the safety measures or metrics were achieved each day, and marked on the board. Safety metrics might include:
- No near misses
- No safety violations
- No missed work due to injuries
- No unsafe work practices observed
- No safety glasses violations
Daily metrics can be established for each SQDC category, and if the teams meet the goals/metrics, then the category is marked as green for the day, or red if they did not meet it.

Customer can also be used for the letter “C”.
Other versions use SQDCM, which includes M for Morale. Newer forms modify the S to be a “+” sign (for health care), and include “E” for Environment.
This is also called QDIP which is similar to SQDC, but uses different letters. Another example is SQDPG (Safety, Quality, Delivery, Productivity, Growth), which is used at Dr Pepper Snapple Group. In the book The Toyota Way, it’s called QCDSM (Quality, Customer, Delivery, Safety, and Morale) at Toyota.
Links
- Using SQDCM Boards the Right Way for Effective Gemba Walks
- Use QDIP sheets to identify environmental issues

Learn how to download these SQDC templates and letters >>>
Additional Resources
- Kaizen and Lean Manufacturing– creativesafetysupply.com
- Kaizen Safety Cross– kaizen-news.com
- Lean Metrics + Process Improvement = Success– blog.creativesafetysupply.com
- DOWNTIME = Waste– 5snews.com
- Continuous Improvement Applied to Safety at Toyota– iecieeechallenge.org
- The Concepts of Kaizen– creativesafetypublishing.com
- Top 10 OSHA Violations in 2013– safetyblognews.com
- Safety and Productivity Works Together– lean-news.com