Takt time

Takt time, derived from the German word Taktzeit via the Japanese タクトタイム, translated best as “measure time”, is the average time between the start of production of one unit and the start of production of the next unit, when these production starts are set to match the rate of customer demand. For example, if a customer wants 10 units per week, then, given a 40-hour work week and steady flow through the production line, the average time between production starts should be 4 hours, yielding 10 units produced per week. Note, a common misconception is that takt time is related to the time it takes to actually make the product. In the previous example, whether it takes 4 minutes or 4 years to produce the product, the takt time should be 4 hours (of course, the time it takes to produce the product will impact the magnitude of the number of units actually in production at any point in time).