A Lean Strategy for Job Shops - POLCA: An Alternative to Kanban for High-Variety or Custom-Engineered Products

摘要

Owners of job shops and other manufacturers of custom-engineered or low-volume, high-variety products often struggle with controlling the flow of materials on the shop floor. Kanban-based strategies, which attempt to pull resources through the plant, are often ineffective because of the variety of products being manufactured and the unpredictability of volume requirements for each part. For more than 10 years, the Center for Quick Response Manufacturing at the University of Wisconsin-Madison has worked with about 50 member companies on implementing a new strategy, called "quick response manufacturing" (QRM), which is designed specifically for manufacturers of custom-engineered and high-variety products. It can be applied on the shop floor, in the office operations, and throughout the entire supply chain.