Flow Rates
Work in a manufacturing environment can be scheduled for different levels of throughput, or flow rates. When demand increases, management may add more machines or more workers to a production line, increasing the flow rate. You can use flow rates to evaluate different scenarios of increased or decreased machine use or labor to find the optimum level of output for a production line.
Flow rates can be expressed as production output per period of time, such as 50 units per week, or in Takt time.
Takt Time
Takt time is a measurement of the pace at which parts must be manufactured to satisfy the demand represented by the current schedule.
Takt time = customer demand rate / operational available time
Example: You have orders for 225 items per day. The available time to produce those items is 7.5 hours (450 minutes). 225 units divided by 450 minutes equals a Takt time of 2 minutes. One unit must be manufactured every two minutes in order to meet customer demand.
Takt time is a goal. It must be reached to satisfy demand. After Takt time is calculated, you can evaluate the number of machines and operators needed to achieve the required output.
When you complete a flow schedule using Flow Schedule Maintenance, the summary frame includes a Takt time calculation based on the total quantity of items to be produced.