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What If Your Customer Takt and Your System Takt Do Not Match—Excess Capacity

Christoph Roser January 20, 2026

This is the third post in this small series on mismatches between customer takt and the line takt (i.e., mismatches between the customer demand and the ability to meet this demand). The first post looked at small fluctuations, which mostly handle themselves through inventory (for make-to-stock) and through lead time and utilization (for make-to-order). The second post looked at customer demand exceeding your capacity. And, finally, in this last post will look at customer demand being lower than your capacity.

What If Your Customer Takt and Your System Takt Do Not Match—Lack of Capacity

Christoph Roser January 13, 2026

The customer takt represents the demand of your customers for your your products. The line takt represents the ability of your production system to produce. Hence, the customer takt should meet the line takt. This series of blog posts looks into what to do if they do NOT match. In my previous post I talked about small fluctuations… which are pretty much no problem in the short term, as inventory (for make-to-stock) or lead time and utilization (for make-to-order) will handle these. However, if the fluctuations trend in one or another direction, eventually you have to act. In this post I will talk more about what to do if the customer takt is faster than your line takt (i.e., the customer demand exceeds your current capacity).

What If Your Customer Takt and Your System Takt Do Not Match—Small Fluctuations

Christoph Roser January 6, 2026

One of the key parameters for setting up and running any production system is the customer takt (i.e., the customer demand). This is measured as the average time between the demand of a customer for one product, based on the available working time. In the grand picture, the customer takt (the customer demand) should match the line takt (the production speed of the line). But what should you do if it doesn’t? Let’s investigate this in a small series of posts. This first post looks at small fluctuations.

Process Confirmation Standard for Kaizen at BMW Dingolfing—Part 4

Christoph Roser December 30, 2025

BMW Group Dingolfing Plant Product Portfolio — BMW Group Dingolfing plant product portfolio

Work standards are key to kaizen, and their correct use requires process confirmation. The BMW Group Dingolfing plant does an outstanding job with this process confirmation, driving their continuous improvement. This gives BMW automotive plants an outstanding performance on par with Toyota. In this last post on the series on the process confirmation standards at BMW Dingolfing, we dig deeper into the confirmation for the work standard documents and the digital displays used to manage the product variety coming down the line.

Process Confirmation Standard for Kaizen at BMW Dingolfing—Part 3

Christoph Roser December 23, 2025

Process confirmation is essential for maintaining standards, which are essential for continuous improvement. In my previous posts I introduced the process confirmation standard at the BMW Group Dingolfing plant, which helps BMW to achieve efficiency on par with Toyota. We already looked at the verification of the material supply standards and 5S. In this post I will talk more about the Gemba standards for the actual work. They demand improvement ideas directly from the shop floor, which is the best way to have fast kaizen cycles toward operational excellence. Read on!

Process Confirmation Standard for Kaizen at BMW Dingolfing—Part 2

Christoph Roser December 16, 2025

In my last post I introduced the process confirmation standard at the BMW Group Dingolfing plant, which helps BMW to achieve efficiency on par with Toyota. In this post I will talk more about the actual process confirmation checklist, starting with a brief overview, followed by a deep dive into the first two sections of the checklist. Read on!

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