ABSTRACT
That concept is central to operations at Menlo Worldwide’s Lean Logistics Center in Brownstown, Mich., which serves primarily as a distribution center for service parts going to General Motors dealers.
What the managers at the center call “takt time” is not calculated in exactly the same way as manufacturing takt time, but the concept is similar. Managers know how long it takes to put away the different types of parts received in a shipment, how many parts must be put away in a day, how rapidly the parts must be put away to get the work done, and what staffing level is required to achieve that (see sidebar, page 105).
