Takt time

The pace at which units must be completed to meet customer demand, calculated by dividing available production time by required output. Takt time comes from demand, not from the equipment: it is the target that cycle times must fit within, with margin for variability and minor stoppages. In automation planning, comparing each station's cycle time against takt time shows where robots relieve bottlenecks and how much headroom a proposed cell leaves for demand growth.