Trade Publication Article

POLCA helps jobs dance through your factory

Suri, Rajan

2018

Overview

Loops of cards between pairs of cells For our example company, let's say certain types ofjobs need to go from the fabrication cell \"N\" to an assembly cell \"S\" and then to a testing cell \"T.\" In POLCA, ifjobs flow between any two cells, these cells are connected by a POLCA loop. [...]as shown in Figure 2, there will be a loop from N to S and one from S to T. Each loop contains a number of cards called POLCA cards that circulate in the loop. Each cell must use the POLCA decision rules (the three questions), so when the job arrives at cell S, the team must first wait till this job is the next authorized job (question one above). Since the job has arrived at cell S, the answer to question two is \"yes.\" [...]POLCA ensures effective use of capacity while also reducing congestion. Next, POLCA works well for high-mix, low-volume and customized production. Since demand is moving more and more in this direction, it is important to have a system that can deal with this environment.

• Publisher: Institute of Industrial and Systems Engineers (IISE)
• Subject: Cards / Case studies / Cost control / Customers / Dance / Decision making / Employment / Inventory / Just in time / Lean manufacturing / Manufacturers / Manufacturing / Preventive maintenance / Production capacity / Success / Systems engineering