Takt time is the pace at which one finished unit must leave the line to meet customer demand exactly. The formula is short: Takt time = available production time ÷ customer demand. If you have 440 minutes and need 220 chairs, a chair must be completed every 2.0 minutes. That is the heartbeat the whole cell works to.
Takt is not a measurement of how fast the line goes. It is a target set by the customer. You can measure how long each station takes, which is called cycle time, and compare it to takt. That comparison is the subject of the next lesson. For now, keep takt and cycle time in separate boxes in your head: takt is what is required, cycle time is what is happening.
Units matter. If stations are timed in seconds, express takt in seconds. Rounding takt up makes the line look slower than it is and risks missing demand. Rounding down makes it faster than needed and leads to overproduction. Carry one decimal place and round only at the very end.
Standard Procedure
- 1Confirm available production time in seconds for the period.
- 2Confirm customer demand in units for the same period.
- 3Divide available time by demand to get takt time in seconds per unit.
- 4Post the takt figure at the head of the line where every operator can see it.
Lesson Summary
- ✓Takt time comes from only two numbers: available time and demand.
- ✓A shorter takt means the customer needs units faster; the line has not changed, the requirement has.