Cycle time

How it is used

One of the most discussed numbers in automation projects. Customers ask for a cycle time, engineers try to reduce or meet it, and simulation is used to estimate it. It is given in seconds: 'we're at 14.2 seconds, the target is 12'.

Example sentences

1. We cut the cycle time by two seconds by moving the gripper while the conveyor indexes.

2. The customer's cycle time target is 30 seconds per part.

Common collocations

• reduce cycle time
• meet the cycle time
• cycle time target
• robot cycle time
• cycle time analysis

Related terms

• throughputThe amount of product a machine, line or system produces in a given time, for example 1,200 parts per hour or 40 picks per minute.
• production lineA series of machines, stations and workers arranged in order, where a product moves from one step to the next until it is finished.
• offline programmingWriting and testing robot programs on a computer using a 3D simulation of the robot and its cell, instead of teaching points on the real robot with the pendant.
• robot cellA closed working area with one or more robots and the equipment around them, such as fixtures, conveyors and safety guarding, that performs a task as one unit.
• scan cycleThe repeating loop a PLC runs: it reads all inputs, executes the program from top to bottom, then updates the outputs. The time one loop takes is the scan time.

This word in other fields

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

• cycle time · Industrial Engineering & Manufacturing

More terms: Industrial Automation and Production

• automation
• conveyor
• fixture
• SCADA
• fieldbus
• commissioning
• Industry 4.0