The Yamazumi chart is a foundational CI tool. It shows operator workload relative to takt time and makes line imbalance visible. The problem is that most Yamazumi charts are built from time studies conducted months ago — and they reflect conditions that no longer exist.
A traditional Yamazumi is built from a time study: an engineer with a stopwatch observing a representative sample of cycles. That study takes days to conduct, weeks to analyze, and produces data that reflects the product mix, operator skill levels, and process conditions at the time of the study.
By the time the Yamazumi is on the wall, the product mix has changed. Operators have rotated. New subprocesses have been added. The chart is already a historical artifact, not a current state view.
TaktClock captures actual elapsed time from every session: which operator, which MO, which part, which process, which subprocess, how long it actually took. That data accumulates every shift. The Yamazumi view is built from that data — not from a time study, not from estimated standard hours, but from what actually happened on the floor today.
The takt line on the chart is drawn from the real average expected time across active sessions, not from a number someone entered six months ago. It adjusts as the product mix changes.
When the Yamazumi is live, the CI engineer doesn't need to wait for a quarterly time study to identify a bottleneck. The Bottleneck tab in TaktClock shows which subprocess is causing the most delay across the floor — updated every shift.
Kaizen targets become current. Line balance decisions are made with current data. Operators who consistently exceed takt on a specific subprocess are identifiable in real time, not in a report that lands on a desk three weeks after the problem started.
30 minutes. Live screen share. We'll configure it against your areas, your processes, your standard hours.