ABSTRACT
The Paired-cell Overlapping Loops of Cards with Authorization (POLCA) loops, cards, and rules are implemented through the software. The POLCA system along with the timeaxx features has dramatically increased transparency for both the planners and the shop floor workers. Preter was founded in 1986 as a one-person company, and in the beginning it had only conventional turning and milling machines at its disposal. The buy-in from the people in the company can be seen in the words of one of the planners: "The daily struggle of scheduling, rescheduling and frequently expediting jobs has finally come to an end. Even the most experienced shop floor employees have accepted the new way of working. The Authorization Date for the first step is calculated by timeaxx using sophisticated finite-capacity scheduling starting from the promised delivery date while also considering the real-time status of each job in the company.
