What is Cycle Time?
Cycle Time
How long does it take to process one.
What it means
Cycle time is the time it takes to complete one item in a process. This time determines how much the process can do per day.
Among several processes, the process with the longest cycle time sets the overall speed. This process is called a bottleneck.
At the pen factory
Assembly takes 4 minutes per pen. By working 400 minutes a day, you can assemble 100 pens. Packaging takes 30 seconds, so it costs 800 pens, but assembly costs only 100 pens, so only 100 pens are sold per day.
Why it matters
It tells you where you can make more quickly. Even if you speed up the process, which is not a bottleneck, the amount produced does not increase.
How this differs from Lead Time
Cycle time is the time to process one item, and lead time is the total period including waiting time.