# Balance a production line to meet takt time

Takt time, a station-by-station load chart, and a rebalanced task assignment that cuts the bottleneck and idle time.

- Topic: Data & Analysis
- Framework: RTF
- Level: Advanced
- Tags: Fill-in Template
- Source: https://www.thinkwithprompt.com/prompts/balance-a-production-line-to-meet-takt-time

## Prompt

```text
Help me balance a production line against takt time.

**Customer demand:** [units per day or week]
**Available production time:** [shift length, number of shifts, minus planned breaks and meetings]
**Work elements:** [LIST each task with its observed time in seconds and its predecessors, e.g. "A: load housing, 12 s, none; B: insert seal, 8 s, after A"]
**Current station assignment:** [which tasks are at which station, number of operators]
**Constraints:** [tasks tied to a fixed machine, tasks that must stay together, zoning, safety rules, skill limits]

Steps:
1. Calculate takt time (available time / demand) and show the math.
2. Show the current state: cycle time per station, the bottleneck, idle time per station, and line balance efficiency (sum of task times / (number of stations x longest station time)).
3. Calculate the theoretical minimum number of operators (total work content / takt) and round up.
4. Propose a rebalanced assignment that respects precedence and constraints, aiming to load each station at about 85-95% of takt so there is room for variation.
5. Show before/after in a table: Station | Tasks | Time (s) | % of takt.
6. List options if the line still can't hit takt: remove waste from the bottleneck task, add a parallel station, adjust shift time, or move work offline.

Use only the times I give. If times look like single observations rather than averages over several cycles, warn me and suggest how many to time. Describe a stacked bar chart (yamazumi) I can build in a spreadsheet to show the load.
```

## What to fill in

- units per day or week
- which tasks are at which station, number of operators

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