A mathematical programming formulation approach to the number of POLCA cards

In the production environment of large product variety, low volumes and highly variable demand, paired-cell overlapping loops of cards with Authorization (POLCA) is an effective production and materials flow control mechanisms (PMFC) for make-to-order or engineer-to-order companies who have to cope with a high variety of customized products, and strong pressure to provide short throughput times. We construct a novel mathematical programming model for the number of POLCA cards by improving the average of the Little law thorough the deeper discussion and the finer division of time. Then discuss the optimization (smaller but reasonable) number of POLCA cards circulating which reflects higher operating efficiency. The result of an example shows that the mathematical programming formulation reasonably and effectively.