Every company needs to understand the 6 steps to apply takt time, line balance, and flow if they want to thrive in today’s economy. These are essential Lean tools that target the elimination of non-value-added activities and wastes within an organization. They ensure the smooth, effective, and optimal performances of organizations. Take a look at the 6 steps to apply takt time, line balance, and flow:
Step 1: Know your customer demand:
If you don’t have a ‘fixed demand’, use historical data to forecast it. Customers can be internal or external. Demand means the amount you need to finish within a specific time.
Step 2: Determine ‘available time’ or working hours:
Reduce breaks from available time. For instance, let us assume you work 9 hours (8 hours plus one hour of breaks). Therefore, the available time is (8 x 60) 480 minutes.
Step 3: Calculate takt time
For calculating the takt time, use the following formula –
Demand (number of units) / Available time
Step 4: List all the steps in your process flow with their cycle time:
Ensure you consider the same unit of flow across the steps. For example, let us consider one file. Hence, we would have to examine the time per file for every step. On the other hand, let us consider a batch. Consequently, we would have to look into the time per batch for every step.
Ensure that the takt time tallies with your considerations in cycle time here. For instance, if you are considering a batch for cycle time, then calculate takt time for a batch of demand.
Steps 5 & 6: Compare your cycle times with takt time & Identify bottleneck steps
To find out in-depth details on how you can compare your cycle time with takt time, and identify the bottleneck steps, click here!
While carrying out the 6 steps of takt time, line balance, and flow, remember to visually show the steps, their cycle times, and takt time. This could be through graphical representations.
Now that you know the steps to carry out these Lean tools, make sure you’re versed in calculating takt time, line balance, and flow!