Takt time
Takt time
Takt time is a calculation used to determine the speed of a production. When you use Takt, actual disturbances become visible and you can focus on applying actions in the right place - thus resulting in better quality, optimized flow and reduced costs.
What is Takt time?
The Takt method became known thanks to the use in Henry Ford’s mass production of the Model T car in the early 20th century. With Takt, you calculate the optimal pulse of production, so that processes and workstations are synchronized. In a manufacturing production without Takt for example, delays can occur at certain assembly stations, which affects the next station in line. This domino effect increases the risk of long changeover, high production costs and leftover products.
Takt time is part of Just-In-Time (JIT), a philosophy that aims to produce and deliver goods in the exact quantity and time they are needed. With Takt, or so called station time, you can measure your productivity, identify all losses and focus on applying actions on the bottlenecks in the process.
How do you use Takt time?
The production process is no better than the weakest link. In an unbalanced production flow, the so-called Bullwhip effect causes a lot of stress. In addition, people often tend to work relatively carelessly and unknowingly cause products with poor quality.
With a visible and clear Takt you improve the connection between the production and the employees, which in turn is better connected to the planning, the warehouse and the customer so that all parts contribute to the common whole. You can also save and analyze statistics for continuous improvement.
With a takt clock, a kind of display, the system shows the calculated speed for each task at each station in the production line. By visualizing the Takt time at workstations in real time, your operators do not work too fast (overproduction) and not too slow (causes delays).
