The Practitioner's Guide to POLCA

Appendix BOverview of Quick Response Manufacturing (QRM)

As explained in the introductory chapters of this book, in today’s world, companies are increasingly seeing demand for smaller batches, higher variety of products, and even customized products that are tailored to each order. It is clear that with the application of computer-aided design and manufacturing, this trend—commonly referred to as “mass customization”—is only going to get more pronounced. In this book, we have used the acronym HMLVC (high-mix, low-volume and custom) for this production environment. In addition to this trend, customers—both Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) and end consumers—are expecting shorter and shorter delivery times for these lower-volume or customized ...