What Is Cycle Time in Manufacturing?

Cycle Time in Manufacturing: Tracking Efficiency of Production and Maintenance Tasks

There are many different metrics used in the manufacturing process that allow companies to track how they’re doing. These are crucial in helping your team know if they’re on target or how they could be doing better.

One such measurement is cycle time.

We’ll explain what cycle time is and how tracking it can benefit your company. Then we’ll show you how UpKeep can make measuring and optimizing cycle time easier than ever.

What Is Cycle Time?

Cycle time is the total time spent working on producing an item from start to finish. This includes:

• Gathering raw materials 

• Wait stages

• Loading times

• Active work times

• Machining and assembly

• Inspection of finished goods

• And more

Cycle time is an important metric because it is a key performance indicator (KPI) measuring how efficient your company’s operations are. Being able to make adjustments to cycle time can provide data that will help you adjust lead time and better meet customer demands. 

Cycle time measurements are regularly used in industries such as:

• Software development

• Financial industry

• Retail establishments

• Restaurants

• And more

Of course, we’re partial to the use of cycle time in manufacturing.

What Is Cycle Time in Manufacturing?

The definition of cycle time in manufacturing is the average time required to produce one unit or pass through a manufacturing operation. Understanding cycle time helps accurately measure how well an operation is run.

Studies have shown that using lean techniques to reduce cycle time enhances manufacturing operations. 

Cycle time can also be used in manufacturing to optimize a maintenance schedule. The more efficiently a team performs maintenance tasks, the lower the preventive maintenance cycle time. And the lower the cycle time, the better — as long as you’re not risking quality and safety to achieve it.

Preventive maintenance cycle time can be calculated by:

1. Creating a preventive maintenance schedule

2. Recording the recruitment meter reading

3. Updating scheduled PM work orders

4. Updating the PM status to complete

UpKeep provides work order software that can help with this process. This easy-to-use tool means you’ll never mishandle work orders again as it allows you to create, assess, prioritize, and measure all of your maintenance work orders in one place. Schedule a demo today to see it firsthand!

Request a Demo

How Do You Calculate Manufacturing Cycle Time?

When calculating cycle time in manufacturing, use the following formula:

Cycle time = net production time/number of units produced

Here’s a breakdown of the steps required to complete this operation:

1. Calculate your net production time by subtracting time your team spends away from the project (for breaks, meetings, etc.) from the total time on the job site.

2. Find the total number of goods produced by counting units of inventory created during a project.

3. Divide the net production time by the total number of goods produced. This gives you the raw value of your team’s cycle time.

4. Convert the value of the cycle time into real time, multiplying by 60.

5. Interpret these results by comparing them to your target cycle time.

Cycle time calculations should be performed routinely because they will fluctuate. Having this measurement will help ensure accuracy as you refine your production processes. It can also:

• Identify needed areas of improvement

• Measure efficiency; and

• Demonstrate productivity

An Example of Calculating Cycle Time in Manufacturing

Let’s look at a real-life example of cycle time in the manufacturing process. Say an auto parts manufacturer wants to measure the time it takes to process a customer order. Using the formula above, they would:

1. Calculate the net production time by finding that each team member spends eight hours on shift per day with one hour per day away from the project, for a total of 7 hours.

2. Count the number of units created during each shift, which is 75.

3. Get the raw value of the team’s cycle time by dividing 7/75=.093.

4. Convert to real time by multiplying .093 x 60=5.6 minutes.

5. Interpret the cycle time of 5.6 minutes per order and evaluate how this measures up to expectations of time spent on each order.

Cycle Time vs. Throughput Time, Lead Time, and Takt Time

Sometimes cycle time in manufacturing is used interchangeably with terms like throughput time, lead time, and takt time. But the truth is, they’re all slightly different — and understanding these differences is important.

Throughput Time

Cycle time and throughput time have the most similarities in this group. Throughput time is the entire time it takes for a product to be manufactured.

This includes:

• The loading and unloading of raw materials

• Process inefficiencies

• Inspection time

• Etc.

Throughput time is calculated by dividing the amount of inventory by time in production.

Cycle time may be the same as throughput time if you’re measuring the entire process. But since cycle time can also be used to measure a single operation, they won’t always be equal.

Lead Time

Lead time refers to the total period between when a customer orders a product and when they receive it. 

Lead time is the same as cycle time plus the processes before and after production — in other words, adding in the amount of time it takes for production to begin and to deliver the finished product.

If a product is ordered on a Tuesday and received the following Monday, the lead time is six days.

Measurement of lead time can be used to improve:

• Production rate

• Additional processing rates

• Logistics

• And more

Takt Time

Takt time comes from the German word meaning “beat” or “pulse” in music. It expresses the minimum frequency at which production must flow to meet customer demand.

Takt time is calculated by dividing the available working time per shift by the rate of customer demand.

For example, let’s say there are 28 workdays of 8 hours per day available for production, and a customer has requested 500 units. 

You must:

1. Convert hours into seconds: 8 hours x 3600 seconds in an hour = 28,800 seconds

2. Then multiply that by how many days you have to work: 28,800 seconds x 28 days = 806,400 seconds to work

3. Finally, divide those seconds by how many units you must produce: 806,400 seconds / 500 units = 1612.8 seconds per unit 

Once you have calculated your takt time, you can compare it to your cycle time to make sure production is fast enough. It’s recommended that takt time be a little higher than cycle time to allow for disruptions.

Using takt time can help your production company:

• Avoid overproduction or underproduction

• Improve production timelines; and

• Restructure where needed

Request a Demo

Cycle Time in the Manufacturing Process: How To Improve Manufacturing Cycle Time

Just knowing about cycle time isn’t enough — you must understand how to implement it into your manufacturing processes for optimum profit and efficiency. Here are our top tips on how to do that.

Improve Your Maintenance

Equipment failures — including breakdowns, stoppages, and slow-running machines — can have a significant impact on cycle time. Improving your maintenance practices and taking good care of machines will benefit your production process.

UpKeep’s intelligent and intuitive preventive maintenance tool helps manufacturing professionals prevent asset breakdowns before they happen. Let UpKeep help you achieve the full useful life of your equipment while you improve cycle time in manufacturing.

Improve Factory Floor Processes

Just because you’ve always done things a certain way doesn’t mean that’s the best way to do it. Remember to periodically evaluate your floor processes and change things as needed to boost production. 

Cycle time can be improved by:

• Reordering processes

• Cleaning and updating machines; and

• Hiring additional personnel when needed

Check out our article on the 5S lean manufacturing process for tips on how to improve your factory floor and decrease cycle time.

Reduce Idle Time

Using resources that will reduce idle time during production will go a long way toward optimizing cycle time. Using a CMMS software like UpKeep makes this easy.

Our mobile-first application allows you to reduce idle time while centralizing maintenance information and streamlining operations by:

• Managing multi-location, day-to-day maintenance life cycles

• Optimizing asset utilization

• Gaining insights into real-time performance data

• And much more

Reduce Movement of Material

Constantly moving materials around leads to inefficiency and increased cycle time. By systematically planning layouts and routes, you can prevent these types of unnecessary movements and improve your production times.

You can also keep track of your inventory controls using UpKeep’s #1 inventory management software. Never again run low on parts or waste time waiting for replacements with this valuable tool.

Improve Your Ability To Reduce and Track Cycle Time in Manufacturing With UpKeep

Using a valuable CMMS like UpKeep can help you ensure efficiency by optimizing cycle time. By lessening downtime caused by inefficiencies, unexpected repairs, and more, you can lower your cycle time and increase production and customer satisfaction.

Use our mobile-friendly app to track maintenance, issue work orders, track tasks and production times, and more.

Contact us today to take a tour and start a free trial.

Request a Demo