TBM Consulting Group

Operational Excellence One Point Lesson

Simple Template for Takt Time/Cycle Time

Bar Charts
Category: Shop floor Business: General Application Lesson: #11 Author: Beth Morrison

PROBLEM OR OPPORTUNITY
Takt time/cycle time bar charts are easier to interpret when the operator cycle times are drawn to
scale in relation to the takt time. With hand drawn charts, sometimes the opportunity is harder to see.
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Test Cell Pos. Cap. Neg. Cap Pos. Cap Heat Shr Weld
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Pack

COUNTERMEASURE

Use a simple Excel chart to portray the information.

Use a three column format to make the chart with the task names (or operator identifications) in
column A, the cycle times in column B, and the takt time in column C.
Chart the data as a bar chart; using the data range of columns A to C. The chart will display as a
bar chart with takt time as a bar in every operation.
Right click on the takt time series, and change the chart type for that data to a line chart.
Add labels to the data so that individual cycle times are associated with each task.
Or, use the information on the following page to set up your own Excel template.

RESULTS
Quick takt time cycle time bar charts that can be easily imported into Powerpoint
presentations for your team report-outs.
2012 TBM CONSULTING GROUP, INC ALL RIGHTS RESERVED v4-12

TBM Consulting Group, Inc. 4400 Ben Franklin Blvd., Durham, NC 27704 P: 800.438.5535 www.tbmcg.com

OperatorTask
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LabelandPack

CycleTime
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TaktTime
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Takttime=34seconds

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Howthischartwascreated:

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Useinformationfromyourtimedobservations(exampleaboveis
batteryassembly.)

TestCell Pos.Cap. Neg.Cap Pos.Cap HeatShr Weld

Sub.
Weld
Weld
GR
Harness

Tape

HeatShr
BL

Glue

TestCell Labeland
Pack

ColumnA:Shorttaskdescriptionforworkperformedbyasingle
operator.
Thischarthashadthelegenddeleted,andthelabelfortheTaktTimelinewasaddedmanually,usingthetextboxfeature.
ColumnB:Cycletimefortaskfromtimedobservations.
ColumnC:Calculatedtakttime.
Excel2010:
Highlightyourdatarange.Don'tincludeRow1.
Cli k
Clickontheinserttabandchoosetheiconforcolumncharts.
h i
b d h
h i
f
l
h
Choosethe2Dcolumnchartontheleft.
Youwillgetacolumnchartwithtwobarsforeachtask;theredbarwillbetakttime.
Rightclickononeoftheredbars.
ChooseChangeSeriesChartType
SelecttheLineChartfurthesttotheleftandclickonOK.
Youcanclickonthelegendboxtodeleteit,andaddinwhatevertextyouwouldlikeusingthetextfeature.
If you want the individual task times to display right click on any blue bar
Ifyouwanttheindividualtasktimestodisplay,rightclickonanybluebar.
ClickonAddDataLabels