What is 'Idle Time'

Idle time is unproductive time on the part of employees or machines as a result of factors beyond their control. Idle time is the time associated with waiting, or when a piece of machinery is not being used but could be. Idle time could also be associated with computing, and in that case refers to processing time.

Explaining 'Idle Time'

Time management is extremely important in any business. This includes timing the completion of one project to coordinate with the beginning of another to reduce idle time. For example, if department A is unable to work on assembly because department B has not finished creating the parts required, the two departments need to be synchronized so that this handoff can go more smoothly, thus reducing idle time.

Further Reading

Financial analysts' forecasts of earnings: Their value to investors
www.sciencedirect.com [PDF]
… G - Financial Economics; H - Public Economics; I - Health, Education, and Welfare; J - Labor and Demographic Economics; … Aggregate Demand, Idle Time, and Unemployment … Pascal Michaillat. London School of Economics University of California, Berkeley. Search for other works …

Endogenous money creation and idle balances
books.google.com [PDF]
… G - Financial Economics; H - Public Economics; I - Health, Education, and Welfare; J - Labor and Demographic Economics; … Aggregate Demand, Idle Time, and Unemployment … Pascal Michaillat. London School of Economics University of California, Berkeley. Search for other works …

Multi-agent job shop scheduling system based on co-operative approach of idle time minimisation
www.tandfonline.com [PDF]
… G - Financial Economics; H - Public Economics; I - Health, Education, and Welfare; J - Labor and Demographic Economics; … Aggregate Demand, Idle Time, and Unemployment … Pascal Michaillat. London School of Economics University of California, Berkeley. Search for other works …

The effect of idle time thresholds on computer use time estimations by electronic monitoring
www.tandfonline.com [PDF]
… G - Financial Economics; H - Public Economics; I - Health, Education, and Welfare; J - Labor and Demographic Economics; … Aggregate Demand, Idle Time, and Unemployment … Pascal Michaillat. London School of Economics University of California, Berkeley. Search for other works …

The economics of idle public funds policies: a reconsideration
www.jstor.org [PDF]
… G - Financial Economics; H - Public Economics; I - Health, Education, and Welfare; J - Labor and Demographic Economics; … Aggregate Demand, Idle Time, and Unemployment … Pascal Michaillat. London School of Economics University of California, Berkeley. Search for other works …

Accounting for idle capacity cost in the scheduling of economic lot sizes
www.tandfonline.com [PDF]
… G - Financial Economics; H - Public Economics; I - Health, Education, and Welfare; J - Labor and Demographic Economics; … Aggregate Demand, Idle Time, and Unemployment … Pascal Michaillat. London School of Economics University of California, Berkeley. Search for other works …

A new Nawaz–Enscore–Ham-based heuristic for permutation flow-shop problems with bicriteria of makespan and machine idle time
www.tandfonline.com [PDF]
… G - Financial Economics; H - Public Economics; I - Health, Education, and Welfare; J - Labor and Demographic Economics; … Aggregate Demand, Idle Time, and Unemployment … Pascal Michaillat. London School of Economics University of California, Berkeley. Search for other works …

Q&A About Idle Time