Overview:

Level Loading is the practice of utilizing demand estimates to establish an

average production level. A demand estimate is found by calculating Takt
time. Takt is a German term meaning "metronome or musical beat". In
Lean terminology, takt time is the equation used to define the rate a
product needs to be completed in order to meet customer demand. Takt
time is meant to help workflow follow a consistent and fluid pattern based
on demand. The equation:

Takt time = Time Available to Work

Customer Demand

Time available to work is calculated by taking the total number of hours an

employee works, subtracting any breaks or meetings, and dividing that time
by the customer's demand. *The result is usually expressed In seconds.

How to calculate Takt Time:

• If employees work eight hour shifts with a thirty minute lunch break
and two ten minute breaks, total work time is calculated at 430
minutes per day.
• Breakdown: (8hrs - 30min lunch - 2(10min breaks) = 43 available
minutes.
• Your next big step is to get your customer demand for the next
period interval you would like to establish the takt for. Takt should be
calculated on historical demand. This should only be for reference. Your
goal is to meet future demand and balance your next production by the
customer beat. Say you get demand for the next three months. Then you’ll
need to calculate average demand per day dividing the total demand by the
exact number of work days within the 3 months period you have chosen.
 o If customer demand is 250 applications to be processed in the
average per day, takt time is available minutes divided by
applications (output),
o Breakdown: 430 available minutes / 250 applications = 1.72
minutes, which is converted to seconds.
o Breakdown: 1.72 minutes x 60 seconds = 103.2 seconds. Hint:
Always round to the highest whole number. In this equation the takt
time would be 104 seconds.

• Variation in demand: target cycle time

• As a general rule, optimal performance is 85% of takt time, so in this
case, 89 seconds.
o 85% is used to account for unexpected events which may occur
(i.e. machine downtime, defective inputs, material shortages,
rework, etc),
o 104 X 0.85 = 88.4 seconds (Hint Always round to the highest
whole number, 89).

• Perform and validate time study

The Takt Time graph displays Employee 4 at 89 seconds, which is

approximately 85% of takt time and thus at optimal performance.
Employees below 85% of takt time fall into the areas of waiting,
inventory, and intellect waste and those employees above takt time
fall into the area of processing waste. In order to avoid waste,
redistribute tasks to 85% of takt time. This process of redistributing
workload based on customer demand is level loading. Areas of
waste can be viewed in the graph below.
Each employee working over or under the calculated takt time is producing
waste.
• Employee 2 may create work in process (WIP) waste, which is a
waste of inventory.
• Employees 1 & 4 may find reasons to leave the workstation or
generate idle time, which is waste in waiting and intellect.
• Employee 5 may find shortcuts or ways to skip steps to keep up.
This will result in poor quality, leading to rework and other waste.
Any overtime that Employee 5 must work is a waste of processing.

How to implement takt. Reduce waste with yamazumi study. First put
timer beat alert

Helpful hints:
• When calculating takt time, subtract scheduled breaks and
meetings, but do not subtract unforeseen events such as
machine downtime, material shortages, or rework.
• To convert takt time into seconds, multiply the result by 60.
• Remember that optimal performance is 85% of takt time.
• Use the chart below to help calculate takt time. Note: the hours per
year does not account for lunches, breaks, holidays, or sick and
 vacation time.

Hours per day 8

Hours per week 40

Hours per year 2080