Takt time is the pace at which you need to finish one unit to keep up with customer demand. You calculate it by dividing the available working time in a period by the number of units the customer needs in that period. Available time excludes planned breaks and meetings. Takt time is set by demand, not by the machines; cycle time is how long the process actually takes. If a station's cycle time is longer than takt, that station cannot keep up.
Example: A cell works one shift with 450 minutes available after breaks, which is 27,000 seconds. The customer needs 300 units per shift. Takt time = 27,000 ÷ 300 = 90 seconds per unit, so every station has to finish its work in under 90 seconds.
Takt time turns a sales forecast into a number every operator can see. It is the basis for balancing work between stations, deciding staffing when demand changes, and writing standardized work, and it makes overproduction visible as soon as a line runs faster than it needs to.
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