Takt Time

What is Takt Time and How to Define It?

The concept of takt time is one of the trickiest concepts and calculations to grasp when designing a Lean Production system. Takt time calculations determine the customers demand, broken down into small, level loaded units. It is NOT a reflection of your capacity or current ability; takt time also doesn’t concern itself with your cycle times or lead times. It is the frequency with which a unit needs to be completed, or comes out the end of your production pipeline, to meet your customer orders. This then sets the heartbeat of production activties, like a conductor coordinating an orchestra.

Takt Time Definition:


We use Takt time to determine our Future State requirements and setting the production parameters. While customers orders are steady and the Takt time is constant, we can only then influence our lead-times or our level of inventory. If our Take t time decreases (customer orders increase) we either need to make our units faster (decreasing the lead time) or increasing the inventory.

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Robert Chittenden

Author: Robert Chittenden

Robert Chittenden is a Senior Lean Consultant at TXM Lean Solutions