Takt Time Calculator
Work out takt time from available time and customer demand, and compare it with cycle time and OEE for a production line. Three modes: takt time from shifts and demand, station cycle times against takt with the operators needed, and OEE from one shift's numbers.
Your numbers
Clock time from start to end of the shift.
Lunch and breaks when the line stops.
Start-up meetings, cleaning, planned maintenance.
Takt time
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- In minutes
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- Available time a day
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- Units an hour
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- Units a shift
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Available time leaves out breaks and planned downtime. Unplanned stops are not taken out of takt; they show up in cycle time and OEE.
The calculation runs in your browser and ParrotNotes does not store your numbers. They sit in the page address so you can bookmark or share the result.
The takt time formula
Takt time = available production time ÷ customer demand. The Lean Enterprise Institute's own example: a plant that works 480 minutes a day for customers who need 240 units a day has a takt time of 2 minutes. Every 2 minutes, one finished unit has to come off the line.
Available time is the time the line is staffed and meant to run: shift length less breaks and planned downtime such as a start-up meeting or cleaning. Two 8-hour shifts with 30 minutes of breaks each give 900 minutes, or 54,000 seconds, a day. With demand of 600 units a day the takt time is 90 seconds, which is 40 units an hour. Unplanned stops stay in: takt is the pace the customer sets, and breakdowns are what the line has to absorb inside it.
Takt time, cycle time and lead time
Takt time is set by demand: how often the line must finish a unit. Cycle time is set by the process: how long a station or operator actually takes for one unit. Lead time is the calendar time from order to delivery, which is what the customer sees on a quote.
A line keeps up when every station's cycle time is at or under takt. A station over takt is the bottleneck: output drops to its pace, work piles up in front of it and the line falls behind demand.
Quoting a delivery date? Work it out with the lead time calculator.
Balancing a line to takt
Add up the cycle times of every station to get the total work content, then divide by takt to get the operators the work needs. With stations of 80, 95, 70 and 85 seconds, the work content is 330 seconds; at a 90-second takt that is 3.67, so 4 operators. Lean practice loads each operator with work just under takt rather than spreading it evenly with slack.
Line balance shows how evenly the work is spread: work content ÷ (stations × the longest cycle time). The example scores 330 ÷ (4 × 95) = 86.8%. The 95-second station is 5 seconds over takt, so the fix is to move work off it or take waste out of it, not to add a fifth station.
OEE in three numbers
Overall equipment effectiveness multiplies three losses. Availability is run time ÷ planned production time (stops). Performance is ideal cycle time × total count ÷ run time (running slower than it could). Quality is good count ÷ total count (scrap and rework).
OEE.com's worked example: 420 planned minutes, 47 minutes stopped, a 1-second ideal cycle, 19,271 parts made and 18,848 good. Availability 88.81% × performance 86.11% × quality 97.80% = 74.79% OEE. The OEE mode shows the same steps with your numbers.
Using takt time on a plant visit
For a sales engineer or a manufacturers' rep, takt is the number that turns a plant tour into a sized proposal. Ask the line manager for shift length, shifts, breaks and the demand they plan for, then the station that holds the line back and how long it takes. A machine or a cell you propose has to run at or under takt, with room for the OEE the plant really gets.
Write down where each number came from: the plan, the ERP or the supervisor's estimate. The difference matters when the plant's engineer checks your proposal.
Formulas as these sources set them out:
For reps and sales engineers in manufacturing: Manufacturing plant tour, Sales engineer, Capital equipment sales, Industrial sales.
Bring the line manager's numbers back
The takt time goes in your proposal; the numbers behind it come from the plant walk. ParrotNotes records the walk on your phone and gives you the transcript, a summary and the follow-ups.
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