Author(s): Fernandes, Nuno O. ; Thürer, Matthias ; Mirzaei, Nima ; Ferreira, Luís Pinto ; Silva, Francisco J. G. ; Carmo-Silva, Sílvio
Date: 2020
Persistent ID: http://hdl.handle.net/10400.22/19622
Origin: Repositório Científico do Instituto Politécnico do Porto
Subject(s): Two-stage production system; POLCA; Simulation
POLCA (Paired-cell Overlapping Loops of Cards with Authorization) is a decision support system for material flow control under Quick Response Manufacturing. It operates in the context of low-volume, high-mix, and cellular manufacturing. While there is an increasing literature on POLCA performance, current studies usually assume full availability of components (or parts) at assembly stations, neglecting parts manufacturing and feeding. Therefore, this study uses simulation to assess POLCA performance in a two-stage production system, where at the first stage parts are manufactured and at the second, they are assembled into end-products. The study demonstrates that using POLCA to control both production stages, manufacturing and assembly, significantly outperforms the use of POLCA at the assembly stage only, leading to important reductions of the total throughput time of orders and on the percentage of tardy orders. Statistical analysis of our results was conducted using ANOVA.
