Takt time is the ideal production tempo required to meet customer demand. It is typically calculated dividing the total business hours allocated by the planned customer demand. This serves as an optimal production tempo for Lean Manufacturing fulfilling customer orders.
Cycle time refers to the time spent on producing a single unit of a product. This time interval starts from the initial stage of production and ends at the point of the product becomes complete. Cycle time may or may not takt time; if the cycle time is less than takt time, the production system would be able to fulfill demand or orders. However, if cycle time is greater than the takt time, there exists a discrepancy between customer orders and actual production output.
Lead time is the total time required to complete from the start of production from the initial production stage of the production line until delivery to customers.
