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Takt Time: what is it, how to calculate and why to use it?

Measuring times and movements is an increasingly necessary practice for any industry. Only then is it possible to understand how the operation works, to identify bottlenecks and to avoid waste.

In this context, it is important to know the time required for each activity to meet market demands. The takt team was created precisely for companies to find this “ideal metric” and to be able to manufacture the quantity of products that their customers expect.

 

What is Takt Time?

The term comes from the German Taktzeit, where Takt means rhythm and Zeit means period. Takt Time is, therefore, the time that a part or product must be produced, based on the pace of sales and market demand.

So, to calculate it, just divide the volume of the customer’s demand by the available work time, subtracting loss times, interruptions, intervals, etc. In other words, we analyze all the net operating time and the market demand to understand how many hours, minutes or seconds each product must be manufactured.

To make it easier, let’s take an example: Imagine a 9-hour shift, with 1 hour of lunch break and 20 minutes of other breaks. In this case, the daily operational time for each employee is 460 minutes or 27,600 seconds.

Now imagine that the customer’s demand is 18 thousand units per month of a product X. In this case, it is necessary to produce 600 pieces per day (18,000 / 30). By dividing the number of daily operating seconds (27,600) by the number of parts needed (600), we get to 46s. This is Takt Time, that is, the time limit that each new unit can take to be manufactured.

The challenges of applying Takt Time

But after all, why calculate this metric that, at first, seems to involve so many variables? Firstly, you have more control over the business, understand the time available for the execution of each task and analyze whether you need to accelerate the pace of production to meet the demands.

The opposite is also true: producing more than necessary will generate excess stock, which can be harmful. After all, the lean methodology itself has just in time as support, and its application means better use of resources in the business.

Calculating the takt time, however, is not always an easy task. There are many processes, people and tasks involved in a large operation, which can cause some confusion. However today there are already technologies that help the manager to control, in real time, the data of people and products within the factory.

Another relevant challenge is that we must always remember that people are not machines. When we arrive at a 46s takt team, as in the example above, we should not expect employees to always maintain this pace of work. It is necessary to analyze the whole joint, predict deviations and know that this number is just a north, since it must accelerate and decelerate its pace throughout the day.

 

Novidá as a complement to Takt Time

In order to bring more productivity to its customers, Novidá has developed an indoor geolocation system that tracks the movement of people and mobile equipment through the business environment.

In this way, it is possible to measure the execution times of the activities with precision, which allows to identify possible bottlenecks in the operation, evaluate the team’s productivity and optimize processes.

It is also possible to cross the time data with the takt time and, thus, check if the activities are happening within the planned time or, if they are not, identify where the deviations are.

Do you want to know more about the benefits that Novidá can bring to your business? Get in touch with one of our experts!

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