Dead Time

What is meant by dead time?

Dead time refers to the period during which a system is not productive or does not visibly respond to input. The term is used across various fields, always with a similar meaning: it describes a delay or inactive phase where no effective action takes place.

The concept of dead time appears in areas such as:

• Intralogistics: In order picking, dead time refers to unproductive moments when the picker is not actively retrieving items. This includes searching for storage locations, opening packaging, counting items, or confirming a pick in the system.

• Production: In this context, dead time can refer to the idle period between two work steps or jobs. For example, when a machine needs to be re-equipped with new tools (e.g. drill bits) between jobs, this setup time is considered dead time.

• Control engineering: Dead time describes the delay between a system input (such as adjusting a control value) and the first measurable response of the system. For instance, after turning up the heating, there is a delay until the room reaches the desired temperature.