How To Calculate Production Cycle Time?

Posted by Gabby Ash on June 5th, 2017

If you have a manufacturing unit, production cycle time is the most important element. If your manufacturing/business unit is still following the waterfall model, you must switch to lean manufacturing model. In the lean manufacturing model, you will have better command over maintaining a steady production cycle time.As we are aware that cycle time is the actual time between the start and completion of a process. In a typical manufacturing scenario, this time is calculated between the arrival of the raw materials to the final inspection of the production inventory.To get More Information Kaizen Events in Manufacturing , visit our website.

Production Cycle Time Formula =  1/Throughput rate.

Throughput rate = (Units Produced or Tasks completed)/ Time  

If you consider that a manufacturing unit is producing 100 units of product per 40 hours week, then the average throughput rate is 1 unit per 0.4 hours which indicates one unit every 24 minutes.

If the number of units increases to 10,000 units and they are processed in batches, then the cycle time will be 24 minutes per batch (Maybe 1000 with 10 cycles).

Reduction of cycle time is very important. If we take another example of a restaurant which serves 20 meals per hour, the owner can work out to increase the throughput to serve more customers and bring the serving time per customer (from 3 minutes) down easily.

Hence, there is a major requirement to reduce the production cycle time. You need to carefully study the process and discuss it with a lean expert. He or she will note the major bottlenecks in the process and will suggest steps to modify or adjust the process accordingly.

If there is a gap in between which is increasing time (Menus to the customer are given late, they are not attended on time, self-service is increasing issues etc.), you can note it down and eliminate unnecessary steps. It will reduce the production cycle time and increase the revenue/customer experience too.

When we talk about reduction of the cycle time through the Production Cycle Time Formula , it is important to note that customer experience must not be affected at any cost. If customers are happy after reducing the cycle time, it is a good sign else you might have to review the other processes.

You must also pay attention to the employee morale and boost them with goodies so that they stay motivated to deliver more and contribute in bringing the production cycle time down to a logical level.