Find the pace at which your process must produce one unit to exactly match customer demand — the heartbeat of a balanced, waste-free production system.
Enter your available production time and customer demand on the left, then press Calculate.
Takt time sets the pace at which one unit must be completed to satisfy demand. If takt time is 2 minutes, the process must produce one unit every 2 minutes to avoid building a backlog.
Cycle time should be at or just below takt time at each step. Steps running faster than takt create inventory. Steps running slower become bottlenecks and will fail to meet demand.
Takt time is not fixed — it shifts as demand changes or as available time changes due to overtime, extra shifts or reduced production days. Recalculate whenever either input changes.