Cycle Time Calculator
No more Billing Errors!
Use Replicon’s Cycle Time Calculator to Keep Track of Your Productive Hours!
Introduction to Cycle Time Calculator
Cycle time is the time taken to complete manufacturing a single unit.
Cycle time calculator helps calculate the average time it takes to complete the production of a unit. Once cycle time is calculated, the takt time can be calculated to find any variations in the productivity. Read on to know-how.
Formula for Calculating Cycle Time
The formula for calculating Cycle Time is as follows:
CYCLE TIME = Net Production Time / UNITS PRODUCED
The two main components needed to calculate Cycle Time are:
i) Net Production time – It is the total manufacturing time.
ii) Units Produced – It is the total number of units produced during that net production time.
To calculate cycle time, divide the total manufacturing hours by the number of units produced in that time period
Example for a Cycle Time Calculation
A woman knits sweaters and sells them on her online store. She works 3 hours a day for 5 days a week to make 10 sweaters.
So to calculate the cycle time, the time taken to knit the sweaters:
Total number of hours * Number of Days / The total number of Sweaters knit in that period
3*5/10
15/10
1.5
So the average time taken to knit one sweater is 1.5 hours.
It should be noted that Cycle time only covers the time taken to manufacture the product and excludes the time it takes to procure raw materials and the post-processing time like delivery etc. To calculate all that, Lead Time is used.
Comparing Cycle Time with Takt Time
Takt Time is the pace at which a company should manufacture its products in order to meet customer demand. Click here to learn more about Takt Time and how it is calculated.
So let us take the example of the woman who knits sweaters and sells them on her online store.
She receives around 12 orders every 5 days.
The Cycle Time calculated was 1.5 hours.
To calculate the Takt time or the expected time to manufacture in order to meet customer demand :
The available working time per week is 15 hours and the demand is 12 sweaters.
Takt Time = available hours / customer demand
15/12
1.25
So here the Takt time is 1.25/ unit.
Since the expected time is less than the actual time, it shows that the woman has to work on speeding the process to meet customer demand.
How to Reduce Cycle Time
The lesser the cycle time, the higher the productivity and more customer satisfaction.
A few tips to reduce cycle time are :
Identify flaws – find out where there is a delay in the process and fix it.
Prioritize tasks – this helps make a to-do list and finish off the most important work and the ones that take more time to complete first.
Measure in numbers – never go by gut instinct. Sales and orders keep wavering. Go by numbers and manufacture accordingly.
Understand the market – a better understanding of market needs will reduce cycle time and produce the right quantity.
Uses of Cycle Time?
i) Can keep track of productivity.
ii) Identify delay flaws and nip them from the bud.
iii) Enhance productivity and ensure no overproduction or underproduction.
iv) Come up with efficient strategies to reduce cycle time.
v) Bill client appropriately based on hours worked.
Frequently Asked Questions
1. What is Cycle Time?
Cycle time is the amount of time required to complete a task, or complete the manufacturing of a single product.
2. How do you calculate total Cycle Time?
Cycle time is calculated by dividing the number of hours available to manufacture the product by the total number of products produced.
Cycle Time = Net Production Time / Units Produced.
3. How do you do Cycle Time analysis?
Cycle time is analyzed by comparing it with the lead time. If the cycle time is higher than the lead time, then it means that there is an overproduction of the product and if the cycle time is lesser than the lead time, then it means that there is underproduction of the product.
4. What are the uses of Cycle Time?
Cycle time is used to track productivity and identify delay flaws and nip them from the bud.
It helps keep track of productivity and work hours.
Helps in calculating the bill for hours worked.
Cycle Time calculation results can be used to analyze production and help prioritize tasks. Cycle time is essential to keep track of productive time. You can try our automated Replicon time tracking software for free.
5. How is Cycle Time different from Takt Time?
Takt Time is the pace at which production should happen so that customer demand is met. It is an estimated time.
Cycle Time is the actual production time.
If Cycle time is subtracted from Takt Time, it shows if the company is meeting customer demand or not, and if they are overproducing or underproducing their products.
Completed Computing Cycle Time?
You can now calculate takt time to find productivity variance.
