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Enhancing the POLCA production control system by indirect load

Fernando José Gómez Paredes et al.

International Journal of Services and Operations Management2026https://doi.org/10.1504/ijsom.2026.151749article
AJG 1
Weight
0.50

What the paper says

Paired-cell overlapping loops of cards with authorisation (POLCA) is a card-based production control system (PCS). The original POLCA system uses authorisation dates based on an MRP list to release jobs to the shop. However, when jobs present high variability in processing times, POLCA may refuse a job to start production on a station, even if available capacity exists, negatively impacting performance. To limit this problem, we adapt POLCA to consider the stations' indirect load (IL) at job release to gain flexibility. We compare the mechanisms through simulation experiments. Results suggest that the indirect load mechanism helps this system to improve operational performance, especially concerning job throughput times and customer delivery time. This research implies that managers should consider the indirect load at stations when using POLCA for production control in a lean production context with high variability.

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https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1504/ijsom.2026.151749

Or copy a formatted citation

@article{fernando2026,
  title        = {{Enhancing the POLCA production control system by indirect load}},
  author       = {Fernando José Gómez Paredes et al.},
  journal      = {International Journal of Services and Operations Management},
  year         = {2026},
  doi          = {https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1504/ijsom.2026.151749},
}

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Evidence weight

0.50

Balanced mode · F 0.40 / M 0.15 / V 0.05 / R 0.40

F · citation impact0.50 × 0.4 = 0.20
M · momentum0.50 × 0.15 = 0.07
V · venue signal0.50 × 0.05 = 0.03
R · text relevance †0.50 × 0.4 = 0.20

† Text relevance is estimated at 0.50 on the detail page — for your query’s actual relevance score, open this paper from a search result.