Takt time

The takt time, which is a German derived word meaning meter, is referred to the available work time per day or production shift to completely satisfy all customer order demands within a defined work period. It is obtained by dividing the available production time in a work day or shift by the required daily quantity of output. It defines the maximum available work time to complete all customer orders in time within a defined time period.

The takt time is useful for a producer to balance the rate of production to better meet customer demand. If the cycle time of each unit of output is less than or equal to its takt time then the time to produce the required units during each time period is sufficient to meet customer demand. If the cycle time is equal to the takt time, the production process is said to be at capacity. This does not include any plant downtime which can reduce total takt time.

The takt time available to complete tasks or produce an item can place requirements on production teams and machinery or plant to produce products under a certain amount of time in order to complete all customer orders for each product. Even though this may put production under pressure to achieve their production target, product or service quality should never be sacrificed nor should plant maintenance time, as this may provide short term gains at the detriment of product quality and supply reliability in the long run.

The takt time can be used to smooth out production and material flow to achieve faster production times and should be considered for when adding capacity to an existing production line or procuring new production facilities in order to be able to meet future customer demand.