Definition of the Number of Takts
Use
Takts are the smallest units of a production line. They are the physical areas that the material passes through in the predefined takt time, where it is processed.
You define the length of the production line by the amount of takts. Alongside the rates (takt times), the number of takts that a material has to pass through is a further parameter for
takt-based scheduling.Prerequisites
You have already created the line elements that you want to use for the structure, and created hierarchy and sequence relationships between the line elements.
Features
You can define the amount of takts in the line hierarchy for a line segment or for a line on the Basic Data tab page. As the number of takts in the line must be clear, you can only enter the number of takts on the lowest level of the line structure. This means you can maintain the number of takts for the following line elements only:
The system then determines the longest path in a hierarchy level and transfers this number of takts to the higher levels. As the line represents the resource of the line structure, you see the longest path through the whole line, on line level. This longest path is important for takt-based scheduling.
In takt-based scheduling, the system multiplies the number of takts with the takt time. This means that by determining the number of takts you also determine the capacity of a line segment. If you subdivide a line segment into work areas, they are scheduled in the same way as the higher-level line segment.
You define a standard path when you use multiple work centers. In this case, the standard path and not the longest path is used. The number of takts that you have defined for the line segments in this path is taken into consideration during scheduling.
Example
The following example shows seven line segments that are arranged in sequence and in parallel using sequence relationships. For takt-based scheduling, the system determines the longest path through this network. This goes through line segments 1, 4, 5, 6 and 7 and is 20 takts long. The system copies these 20 takts into the Number of takts field of the higher-level line segment.
Actions
Load a line element from the lowest level of the line structure (line segment or line) and enter the number of takts on the Basic Data tab page.