There are two definitions of "cycle time" in usage in different areas of the
Lean space.

In moving line manufacturing "cycle time" is the time between each item rolling
off the line. In Little's Law this is essential the reciprocal of Throughput.
Hence, if we make a Corolla every 90 secs, we have a cycle time of 90s, and we
have a Throughput of 40 per hour. In Little's Law the Lead Time is the same as I
defined.

In job shops and in common language usage you could say the cycle time is the
time between any two points in the workflow. Cycle time is essentially a local
measure. Hence it needs to be qualified with limiters such as "cycle time
through development."

The usage of Cycle Time in GetKanban for example is as Bruce is using it and is
not aligned with Little's Law.

Given that there has been a lot of misunderstanding of this over the years, and
I have contributed to this, I now want to clean it up. As a result, Lean Kanban
University will publish a standard for it. I expect it will be several years
before we see everyone fall into line with it.

Regards,
David
http://djaa.com/

--- In kanbandev@yahoogroups.com, brucemount@... wrote:
>
> The definition below is what I have been calling "Cycle Time". Does this
mean:
>
>
> 1. Cycle Time and Lead Time are the same thing?
> 2. Cycle Time is something else entirely. If so, what?
>
>
> --Bruce