diff --git a/ansible/group_vars/all b/ansible/group_vars/all
index 9ce361eb570..4c75e33eb66 100644
--- a/ansible/group_vars/all
+++ b/ansible/group_vars/all
@@ -66,6 +66,7 @@ controller:
   heap: "{{ controller_heap | default('2g') }}"
   arguments: "{{ controller_arguments | default('') }}"
   blackboxFraction: "{{ controller_blackbox_fraction | default(0.10) }}"
+  timeoutFactor: "{{ controller_timeout_factor | default(2) }}"
   instances: "{{ groups['controllers'] | length }}"
   localBookkeeping: "{{ controller_local_bookkeeping | default('false') }}"
   akka:
diff --git a/ansible/roles/controller/tasks/deploy.yml b/ansible/roles/controller/tasks/deploy.yml
index 80c6a23fa54..92c576d6b1a 100644
--- a/ansible/roles/controller/tasks/deploy.yml
+++ b/ansible/roles/controller/tasks/deploy.yml
@@ -226,6 +226,8 @@
         "{{ invoker.busyThreshold }}"
       "CONFIG_whisk_loadbalancer_blackboxFraction":
         "{{ controller.blackboxFraction }}"
+      "CONFIG_whisk_loadbalancer_timeoutFactor":
+        "{{ controller.timeoutFactor }}"
 
       "CONFIG_kamon_statsd_hostname": "{{ metrics.kamon.host }}"
       "CONFIG_kamon_statsd_port": "{{ metrics.kamon.port }}"
diff --git a/core/controller/src/main/resources/reference.conf b/core/controller/src/main/resources/reference.conf
index 85712a4141e..3cf073c21ba 100644
--- a/core/controller/src/main/resources/reference.conf
+++ b/core/controller/src/main/resources/reference.conf
@@ -8,6 +8,10 @@ whisk {
   loadbalancer {
     invoker-busy-threshold: 4
     blackbox-fraction: 10%
+    # factor to increase the timeout for forced active acks
+    # timeout = time-limit.std * timeoutfactor + 1m
+    # default is 2 because init and run can both use the configured timeout fully
+    timeout-factor = 2
   }
   controller {
     protocol: http
diff --git a/core/controller/src/main/scala/whisk/core/loadBalancer/ShardingContainerPoolBalancer.scala b/core/controller/src/main/scala/whisk/core/loadBalancer/ShardingContainerPoolBalancer.scala
index a334b4129fa..c87a3b77d13 100644
--- a/core/controller/src/main/scala/whisk/core/loadBalancer/ShardingContainerPoolBalancer.scala
+++ b/core/controller/src/main/scala/whisk/core/loadBalancer/ShardingContainerPoolBalancer.scala
@@ -156,6 +156,8 @@ class ShardingContainerPoolBalancer(config: WhiskConfig, controllerInstance: Con
     None
   }
 
+  private val lbConfig = loadConfigOrThrow[ShardingContainerPoolBalancerConfig](ConfigKeys.loadbalancer)
+
   /** State related to invocations and throttling */
   private val activations = TrieMap[ActivationId, ActivationEntry]()
   private val activationsPerNamespace = TrieMap[UUID, LongAdder]()
@@ -163,7 +165,7 @@ class ShardingContainerPoolBalancer(config: WhiskConfig, controllerInstance: Con
   private val totalActivationMemory = new LongAdder()
 
   /** State needed for scheduling. */
-  private val schedulingState = ShardingContainerPoolBalancerState()()
+  private val schedulingState = ShardingContainerPoolBalancerState()(lbConfig)
 
   actorSystem.scheduler.schedule(0.seconds, 10.seconds) {
     MetricEmitter.emitHistogramMetric(LOADBALANCER_ACTIVATIONS_INFLIGHT(controllerInstance), totalActivations.longValue)
@@ -254,7 +256,12 @@ class ShardingContainerPoolBalancer(config: WhiskConfig, controllerInstance: Con
     totalActivationMemory.add(action.limits.memory.megabytes)
     activationsPerNamespace.getOrElseUpdate(msg.user.namespace.uuid, new LongAdder()).increment()
 
-    val timeout = action.limits.timeout.duration.max(TimeLimit.STD_DURATION) + 1.minute
+    // Timeout is a multiple of the configured maximum action duration. The minimum timeout is the configured standard
+    // value for action durations to avoid too tight timeouts.
+    // Timeouts in general are diluted by a configurable factor. In essence this factor controls how much slack you want
+    // to allow in your topics before you start reporting failed activations.
+    val timeout = (action.limits.timeout.duration.max(TimeLimit.STD_DURATION) * lbConfig.timeoutFactor) + 1.minute
+
     // Install a timeout handler for the catastrophic case where an active ack is not received at all
     // (because say an invoker is down completely, or the connection to the message bus is disrupted) or when
     // the active ack is significantly delayed (possibly dues to long queues but the subject should not be penalized);
@@ -579,8 +586,9 @@ case class ClusterConfig(useClusterBootstrap: Boolean)
  *
  * @param blackboxFraction the fraction of all invokers to use exclusively for blackboxes
  * @param invokerBusyThreshold how many slots an invoker has available in total
+ * @param timeoutFactor factor to influence the timeout period for forced active acks (time-limit.std * timeoutFactor + 1m)
  */
-case class ShardingContainerPoolBalancerConfig(blackboxFraction: Double, invokerBusyThreshold: Int)
+case class ShardingContainerPoolBalancerConfig(blackboxFraction: Double, invokerBusyThreshold: Int, timeoutFactor: Int)
 
 /**
  * State kept for each activation until completion.
diff --git a/tests/src/test/scala/whisk/core/loadBalancer/test/ShardingContainerPoolBalancerTests.scala b/tests/src/test/scala/whisk/core/loadBalancer/test/ShardingContainerPoolBalancerTests.scala
index 9b2567e9c19..96a2cc38cbc 100644
--- a/tests/src/test/scala/whisk/core/loadBalancer/test/ShardingContainerPoolBalancerTests.scala
+++ b/tests/src/test/scala/whisk/core/loadBalancer/test/ShardingContainerPoolBalancerTests.scala
@@ -42,10 +42,13 @@ class ShardingContainerPoolBalancerTests extends FlatSpec with Matchers with Str
   def semaphores(count: Int, max: Int): IndexedSeq[ForcableSemaphore] =
     IndexedSeq.fill(count)(new ForcableSemaphore(max))
 
+  def lbConfig(blackboxFraction: Double, invokerBusyThreshold: Int) =
+    ShardingContainerPoolBalancerConfig(blackboxFraction, invokerBusyThreshold, 1)
+
   it should "update invoker's state, growing the slots data and keeping valid old data" in {
     // start empty
     val slots = 10
-    val state = ShardingContainerPoolBalancerState()(ShardingContainerPoolBalancerConfig(0.5, slots))
+    val state = ShardingContainerPoolBalancerState()(lbConfig(0.5, slots))
     state.invokers shouldBe 'empty
     state.blackboxInvokers shouldBe 'empty
     state.managedInvokers shouldBe 'empty
@@ -85,7 +88,7 @@ class ShardingContainerPoolBalancerTests extends FlatSpec with Matchers with Str
 
   it should "allow managed partition to overlap with blackbox for small N" in {
     Seq(0.1, 0.2, 0.3, 0.4, 0.5).foreach { bf =>
-      val state = ShardingContainerPoolBalancerState()(ShardingContainerPoolBalancerConfig(bf, 1))
+      val state = ShardingContainerPoolBalancerState()(lbConfig(bf, 1))
 
       (1 to 100).toSeq.foreach { i =>
         state.updateInvokers((1 to i).map(_ => healthy(1)))
@@ -112,7 +115,7 @@ class ShardingContainerPoolBalancerTests extends FlatSpec with Matchers with Str
 
   it should "update the cluster size, adjusting the invoker slots accordingly" in {
     val slots = 10
-    val state = ShardingContainerPoolBalancerState()(ShardingContainerPoolBalancerConfig(0.5, slots))
+    val state = ShardingContainerPoolBalancerState()(lbConfig(0.5, slots))
     state.updateInvokers(IndexedSeq(healthy(0)))
 
     state.invokerSlots.head.tryAcquire()
@@ -124,7 +127,7 @@ class ShardingContainerPoolBalancerTests extends FlatSpec with Matchers with Str
 
   it should "fallback to a size of 1 (alone) if cluster size is < 1" in {
     val slots = 10
-    val state = ShardingContainerPoolBalancerState()(ShardingContainerPoolBalancerConfig(0.5, slots))
+    val state = ShardingContainerPoolBalancerState()(lbConfig(0.5, slots))
     state.updateInvokers(IndexedSeq(healthy(0)))
 
     state.invokerSlots.head.availablePermits shouldBe slots
@@ -141,7 +144,7 @@ class ShardingContainerPoolBalancerTests extends FlatSpec with Matchers with Str
 
   it should "set the threshold to 1 if the cluster is bigger than there are slots on 1 invoker" in {
     val slots = 10
-    val state = ShardingContainerPoolBalancerState()(ShardingContainerPoolBalancerConfig(0.5, slots))
+    val state = ShardingContainerPoolBalancerState()(lbConfig(0.5, slots))
     state.updateInvokers(IndexedSeq(healthy(0)))
 
     state.invokerSlots.head.availablePermits shouldBe slots