Takt Time

A calculation performed in lean improvements to determine the even pace at which the process must achieve deliverable results in order to keep up with customer demand.

The formula is the amount of available time in the work day divided by the customer demand. Remember that in takt time, the available time always goes on the top of the equation.

For example, let’s assume there is 420 minutes of work time in the work day (after removing breaks, lunch, meetings, etc). If the customer expects 140 documents processed per day, then we take 420 / 140 = 3 minutes.

The takt time is 3 minutes, which means the process must complete one document every 3 minutes, otherwise the process cannot keep up with the demand.

This makes it easier to identify when the process is falling behind schedule as soon as possible, instead of being surprised at the end of the work day.

Takt time is a borrowing of the Japanese word takutotaimu, which in turn was borrowed from the German word Taktzeit, meaning clock interval. It establishes the pace or “drum beat” of the process.

Takt Time in 2 minutes