Takt Time

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  Takt time is a German phrase for the baton the conductor uses to set the tempo of an orchestra.  In Lean and Six Sigma applications Takt time refers to the rate at which products, information and/or services need to be completed in, to keep up with customer demand.  ​Much like the pulse of a heart rate, Takt time tells us whether we are beating at a healthy rate or we are falling behind.

  Takt time is most commonly represented in either seconds, minutes or sometimes hours.  For simplicity we will calculate our takt time in minutes.  To determine what your average takt time is for your final process you need to divide the total daily amount of working time by the required quantity of products per day.

How to Calculate Takt Time?

• Takt time is calculated by dividing the available time per day by the customer demand.

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If the available time per day is 7.5 hours and the customer would like to receive 350 parts per day, what would the calculated takt time be?

Example:
​  Let’s look at an example.  Let’s say that we have 480 minutes of available time in a work day.  60 of those minutes are for lunch and break which leaves us with 420 minutes of available work time.  Our next figure will be an assumed 20 working days per month.  We will come back to this.  Let’s say that in the current month we have 4 different products that total 45,000 pieces that need to be made.  Our first step would be:

• Divide the 45,000 pieces by the number of days per month to get the daily quantity.  45,000/20 = 2,250 parts per day.

Now that we know how many of the 4 different pieces need to be made per day we can calculate our takt time.  This is done by:

• Dividing the amount of available time per day by the number of parts per day.  420/2,250 = 0.19 minutes per unit, takt time.

So, what does that mean?  To put it simply, it means that every 0.19 minutes we need to produce 1 unit or we fall behind customer demand.  That is a little over 5 units per minute.  Now you can try.  
Challenge:

• Let’s say that you have a work day that has an available time of 480 minutes per day.  After calculating the demand per day you discover that you need to make 10 parts per day.  What is your takt time?  Share your answer in the comments section below and receive a coupon to one of Lean Strategies International LLC's courses.

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