How do you calculate takt time?

Divide the available production time by customer demand for the same period. For example, 27,000 seconds of available time in a day and demand for 900 units a day give a takt time of 30 seconds per unit.

What is the difference between takt time and cycle time?

Takt time is the pace demand requires: how often one unit must be finished. Cycle time is how long a process step actually takes to complete one unit. If any station's cycle time is longer than takt, the line cannot keep up with demand without overtime or extra capacity.

Should breaks and downtime be taken out of available time?

Take out planned time when the line will not run, such as breaks, meetings and planned cleaning. Do not take out unplanned downtime: takt time is set by demand, and breakdowns are a loss to fix, not part of the plan.

Does takt time change when demand changes?

Yes. Takt time moves with demand and available time, so recalculate it whenever the forecast or the shift pattern changes, and rebalance the work across stations to the new takt.

How many operators or stations do I need for a takt time?

Divide the total work content for one unit by takt time and round up. For example, 270 seconds of work at a 60 second takt needs at least 5 stations. The line balancing calculator works this out from your station times.

Free tool

Takt time calculator

Takt time is the rate at which products must be finished to meet customer demand. It is the available production time divided by customer demand for the same period, and it sets the pace that every station on the line is balanced against.

Takt timeequalsAvailable production time divided by Customer demand

Available production timeequals(Shift length − Planned breaks) × Shifts

Use the same period for both, for example seconds per day and units per day. The result is time per unit.

Shift length

Planned breaks per shift

Breaks, meetings, planned cleaning

Shifts per day

Customer demand per day

Pre-filled with the worked example. Use the same period for time and demand: here, one day.

Takt time

30 s

One unit must be finished this often to meet demand.

Per unit, in minutes

0.5 min

Output needed

120 / hour

Available time

450 min

27,000 seconds a day

How to calculate it

Available time over demand

Available production time is the time the line is scheduled to run: shift length minus planned breaks, meetings and planned cleaning, times the number of shifts.

Customer demand is how many units customers need in that same period, from orders or the forecast.

Divide one by the other and you have the heartbeat of the line. Compare each station's cycle time with it: a station slower than takt is a bottleneck, and one much faster has spare capacity. The line balancing calculator takes it from there.

Worked example

Illustrative numbers, not a benchmark

One 480-minute shift a day with 30 minutes of planned breaks, and customer demand of 900 units a day.

1Available time = 480 − 30 = 450 min × 60 = 27,000 s.
2Takt time = 27,000 s ÷ 900 units = 30 s per unit.
3Output needed = 3,600 s ÷ 30 s = 120 units an hour.

Takt time is 30 seconds per unit. Any station that needs more than 30 seconds of work per unit will hold the line back.

Embed this calculator

Teaching this, or writing about it? Paste this code into your site, course page or intranet and the calculator works right there. It is free, with no sign-up.

<iframe src="https://www.theleansuite.com/tools/takt-time-calculator/embed" title="Takt time calculator by LeanSuite" width="100%" height="840" style="border:0;max-width:1000px" loading="lazy" allow="clipboard-write"></iframe>
<p style="font:13px/1.4 sans-serif"><a href="https://www.theleansuite.com/tools/takt-time-calculator">Takt time calculator</a> by LeanSuite</p>

How LeanSuite helps

Drop in a video of your line and LeanSuite's Line Balancing produces a Yamazumi chart, a takt comparison and rebalancing recommendations.

See Line Balancing

FAQ

Takt time calculator: common questions

More free lean tools

All tools