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Time study and line balancing

The time study that goes all the way to the decision.

StreamVAL times your stations, computes standard time and takt, and tells you where to rebalance the line. Built for methods and production teams in industrial SMEs.

Try the simulator See how it works
  • On-premise installation available
  • CSV export at any time
  • The simulator sends nothing
StreamVAL, Stations screen: the DECKS line, each station’s load against takt, and the panel of station LS202 at 79 %
Stations screen, on a demonstration line. No real shop-floor data.
  • 7 wastes measured at the same time as the cycle, with no second pass.
  • 1 standard time per station signed, logged, tied to the readings that produced it.
  • 1 calculation chain from reading to required headcount: every figure traces back to its measurement.
  • 0 parallel spreadsheet takt, bottleneck and balancing recompute inside the tool.

The problem

The problem is not the stopwatch. It is everything lost afterwards.

Times end up in a spreadsheet, the yamazumi goes stale as soon as demand changes, and staffing is settled on instinct. StreamVAL connects all three moments in one traceable calculation.

  • The reading

    A stopwatch, a sheet of paper, and times that never leave the binder.

  • The spreadsheet

    Every line has its own. The formulas differ from site to site, and nobody knows which one is authoritative any more.

  • The decision

    Moving one operator from one station to another: nobody can say what it would gain.

How it works

From stopwatch to decision, with no re-entry.

The same data runs through all four steps. The number shown in the meeting stays tied to the shop-floor reading that produced it.

  1. 01

    Time it

    One station, laps, the seven wastes in parallel. The cycle runs while waiting and transport are tapped with one key — in full-screen mode there is nothing else to touch, gloves on.

    The StreamVAL stopwatch: a cycle in progress at 9.9 s, with Waiting and Transport measured in parallel
    The stopwatch on a phone: the Clamping step of station LS202, ready to start
  2. 02

    Standard time

    Performance rating and allowances applied to the reading, variation computed, sample size tracked. A discarded reading stays visible but no longer counts. One reference study per station: activating it deactivates the previous one.

    The station sheet for LS202: its routing, step by step, and its load at 79 % of takt
  3. 03

    Takt and balancing

    The line, its bottleneck, its balancing rate, its required headcount. The yamazumi redraws when demand changes, and a block of work slides from one station to its neighbour to see what it does.

    The DECKS line yamazumi: stations LS200 to LS202 against a 36:40 takt
  4. 04

    Decide

    Every recommendation names the station, shows the evidence, quantifies the impact and proposes a countermeasure. Critical gaps come first; at equal severity, the gain decides.

    Move 0.4 operator from station 3 to station 4

    +0.4 operator

    Station 4 cannot keep up with demand, station 3 has slack. The transfer brings the bottleneck back under takt without touching the routing.

    Critical Demonstration lineYamazumi · line balancing
    The Stations screen: the load of the six DECKS stations and the “Deal with first” list, bottleneck LS201 on top

StreamVAL screenshots on a demonstration line. No real shop-floor data.

Simulator

Change demand. See exactly where the line falls behind.

Takt, bottleneck, capacity, line balance and required headcount update together. The simulator applies StreamVAL’s reasoning to a fictional five-station line.

Takt —
Bottleneck —
WIP 0
1 s = 20 min on the floor

Parts enter at takt and pile up in front of the station whose cycle exceeds takt.

Takt, playable

Your line, in five stations.

The starting values describe a fictional line. Replace them with your own orders of magnitude: nothing is sent anywhere, everything runs in the browser.

Cycle times

The effective cycle of each station, headcount included.

Takt 30 min
Bottleneck Station 4
Capacity 14 pcs
Balancing 74 %
Headcount needed 4.17 operators
Gap 0.83 over
Takt
22
P1
26
P2
19
P3
34
P4
24
P5
What to decide Ranked by severity, then by gain.
  • Critical

    Station 4 cannot keep up with demand: its cycle exceeds takt by 4 min. The line caps out at 14 pcs over the period.

  • Watch

    Balancing drops to 74 %. Between the busiest station and the others, 45 min of work content sits idle.

  • Informational

    At the current takt, 4.17 operators are enough to hold demand — 0.83 operators over.

Run the same calculation on your line

Who it is for

One shop-floor tool. Three levels of decision.

  • SME

    Production and methods manager

    Replaces the stopwatch, the spreadsheet and the hand-drawn yamazumi. A line can be timed in a day.

  • Multi-site

    Industrial management

    The same calculation across every site, routings partitioned by product, and an installation on your own server if you want one.

  • Consultancies

    Lean consultant

    The tool travels from engagement to engagement. Each client stays sealed off, and the CSV export feeds the report.

Your data

Your industrial data stays under your control.

On-premise installation
StreamVAL installs on your infrastructure. Times never leave the company.
One account per company
Each customer has its own organisation, members and data, isolated down to the database. Reads included: a routing deserves as much protection as an edit.
CSV export at any time
One row per study, with the parameters, the statistics and the computed times.
Partitioned by product
Nothing measured crosses from one product to another — which is what lets you compare two references on the same line.
Everything about security and data →

Questions

Answers before the first try.

Scope, data, deployment and methods: what StreamVAL does — and what it does not claim to do.

Our routings are confidential. Where does the data live?

On-premise installation is available: studies stay on your infrastructure and times never leave the company. On the hosted instance, each company has its own organisation and accounts, isolated down to the database, and the CSV export hands you all of your times whenever you decide.

Is it compatible with MTM or MOST?

StreamVAL measures by time study: observed time, performance rating, allowances. That is a choice — field measurement rather than the theoretical standard.

We already use AviX, Timer Pro or an in-house spreadsheet.

StreamVAL does not try to match them feature for feature. It does not provide video work instructions or predetermined motion times. It connects a stopwatch study to takt, actual capacity and staffing decisions.

How long until a first result?

A first diagnosis fits into one shop-floor day: create the product, define the stations and time the line. The robustness of the standard then depends on sample size and variation.

Does it work without a network on the shop floor?

The current version needs network access to its API. A dedicated deployment can remain inside the site network; a fully offline mode is not available today.

What does it cost?

Pricing depends on deployment scope, number of sites and onboarding support. A clear proposal follows scoping, with no hidden cost added during the pilot.

What next

Your next bottleneck deserves better than a hunch.

Bring one line, its demand and a station to time. StreamVAL turns the measurement into an action plan that production and methods can challenge together.

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