In materials management, what term refers to the time from material entering a facility until it exits, and in industrial engineering, the time between completions of two discrete units?

• A. Lead time
• B. Cycle time
• C. Throughput time
• D. Processing time

Answer: (B)

Cycle time is the interval between the completions of successive units. In industrial engineering, this is the precise way to express how fast a process is producing—how long passes from finishing one unit to finishing the next. That direct, unambiguous definition makes cycle time the best-fit term for the notion of the time between two discrete-unit completions.

In materials management, you’ll also hear about the time a unit spends in a system from entry to exit, often called throughput time (flow time) or dwell time, which can include waiting. Processing time is just the actual work time spent on a unit, and lead time generally refers to the overall duration from an order’s start to its delivery. These distinctions matter because cycle time specifically measures the spacing of completions, not the total time inside the facility.