Takt (from the German word for “beat”) is the time that must elapse between successive units of the same item in order to exactly meet customer demand.
The purpose of takt time is primarily to serve as a management tool to indicate briefly whether production is ahead or behind. It serves as an alignment tool aligning preceding with following processes aligning resource requirements with demand, aligning corporate functions with real-time production needs. John Shook.
Takt time (e.g. minutes per widget) is total available production time (e.g. minutes) in a period divided by customer demand (e.g. no. of widgets required) over that period. Takt is typically measured over weeks or months rather than short time periods. For production to meet demand all cycle times must be less than takt time.
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