Cycle Time

The cycle time is the time it takes to complete a task from start to finish or an average of the completion times of a repetitive productive process or task. Cycle times are commonly used to gauge the time it takes to complete tasks along the productive process, although commonly it is measured as the time it takes to manufacture or produce one unit of output at the end of the production line. Depending on the productive process, it may or may not have idle waiting times in between tasks, the sum of the value-adding tasks and idle times is known as the throughput time which in practical situations is used interchangeably with cycle time.

The cycle time for an item or product together with the resources available to produce the item will determine the total capacity of the productive process, and if there is a demand forecast then the capacity utilization of the process can be predicted. In manual labour intensive processes an average is usually used to derive the cycle time for a task, due to the difference in skills and experience of different operators.

The standard deviation of the average cycle time can be used as an indicator of variability among operators, and if too big it can be difficult to accurately predict total lead times and can produced bottlenecks . One way to eliminate the variability of a task or process cycle time is to introduce automation into the process. Automation reduces variability, improves accuracy and quality.