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Industrial Engineering & Manufacturing vocabulary · Work Study and Time Measurement

Cycle time

Meaning in industrial engineering & manufacturing, with examples

nounCore term

In industrial engineering & manufacturing, cycle time means: The time it takes to complete one unit or one full round of a task at a machine or workstation, from start to finish.

In Turkish: çevrim süresi, döngü süresi

How it is used

Measured with a stopwatch or machine data and given in seconds or minutes. Engineers measure, reduce and cut cycle time. Some companies also use it for the total time an order spends in the plant, so check which meaning is intended.

Example sentences

  1. The robot's cycle time is 42 seconds, but takt time is only 38, so we need a second cell.

  2. We cut the cycle time by 15% by moving the parts bin closer to the operator.

Common collocations

  • reduce cycle time
  • machine cycle time
  • average cycle time
  • measure cycle time
  • takt timeThe pace at which you must finish one product to meet customer demand: the available working time divided by the number of units the customer needs.
  • time studyA work measurement method in which an analyst times a trained worker doing a task many times, usually with a stopwatch or video, to set a standard time.
  • lead timeThe total time between the start of a process, such as receiving an order, and its end, such as delivering the product to the customer.
  • standard timeThe time a trained worker working at a normal pace needs to do a task, including allowances for rest, personal needs and small delays.

This word in other fields

The same English word can have a different meaning in another field:

More terms: Work Study and Time Measurement

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