
78 • e Lean CFO: Architect of the Lean Management System
longest cycle time. Second, Lean companies always reserve a portion of
capacity as a buer for variability that cannot be predicted. is is typi-
cally between 10% and 20% of total capacity.
Capacity can be calculated for both people and machines. It’s best to cal-
culate capacity based on the resource that is performing the value-added
work. e value stream maps indicate which resources are performing
this work.
Finally, it’s important to remember that there are no “benchmarks” as to
what your capacity numbers should look like. You want the current-state
capacity to reect the current s