What Is Takt Time?

What Is Takt Time? By David G Lasher Expert Author David G Lasher Takt Time is the rate at which production is required to meet customer demand. I have recently been assigned to a ten year old production line that is need of a major overhaul. Over this ten year period, the line has averaged one to two major process changes per year. I say 'changes' because even with good intent, changes are not necessarily improvement initiatives. Without the proper time studies, and review of Just In Time (JIT) inventory, ergonomics, and Takt Time, changes could be nothing more than redesign of failure into more failure. Much like computer software, and the first thing learned in programming 101; junk in - junk out. Calculating Takt Time Understanding Takt Time is to understand that on any given day, the volume at which your units are produced must match that as closely as possible to the daily demand for those units by your customers. In organizations that build large products like modular buildings or electrical power equipment, the demand for finished products might take place over the course of weeks or months. In high-speed manufacturing environments, like bottling plants or paper mills, there can be thousands, or millions of units produced per day. To meet Takt Time correctly, vendors located all over the world must be able to supply parts and components at the same rate they are consumed by the primary manufacturer's customers. The closer the vendor's are physically located to the primary manufacturer, the easier it generally is to control this rate, however, in today's global environment, many companies have to import components from all over the world. Not only is it required to meet customer demand at the right time, but the suppliers, and the supplier's suppliers (sub-suppliers) must meet that same demand as well. For example, In a production line of small modular steel boxes, the customer demand is 15 units per day. Two shifts of production total 14 hours per day. (When calculating total production time, remember to subtract for breaks, lunch, meetings, 5S cleaning, etc.) Calculation: 14 hours x 60 minutes x 60 seconds = 50,400 total available seconds. Divide by the total number of daily units required by the customer, 15, to get 3,360. This means that each unit, regardless of the number of people assigned to the production line, and regardless of the number of different configurations are required from the customer, each unit must be manufactured in 3,360 seconds (56 minutes) to meet customer demand. This means that in order for the manufacturer to meet customer demand, each of its suppliers and sub-suppliers must also meet that same demand by producing a unit at least every 56 minutes. This is how Takt Time is calculated. For more information about Takt Time, visit http://REALKaizen.com and join the discussions about Kaizen and how they can help improve your business. David Lasher is a Manufacturing Engineer with more than 20 years experience performing Kaizen events and implementing Continuous Process Improvement programs in the electrical power equipment and medical device manufacturing industries. Join him at http://REALKaizen.com for "How-To" Guides, and to discuss the different elements of Kaizen and how they can improve your business. Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=David_G_Lasher