Spaghetti diagram

Lean Green Belt Tool Spaghetti diagram

What is Spaghetti diagram

Spaghetti diagram is a method to visualize the physical flow of products or movement of persons.


Why Spaghetti diagram

General advantages

  • This tool helps you to reveal and optimize unnecessary conveyance of products and motion of persons.

Reduces waste types

  • ☑ Conveyance
  • ☐ Inventory
  • ☑ Motion
  • ☐ Waiting
  • ☐ Overproduction
  • ☐ Overprocessing
  • ☐ Correction

When to use Spaghetti diagram

Essential conditions

None

N/A

Non-essential conditions

None

N/A


How to implement and use Spaghetti diagram

Implementation

  1. First, start by drawing a map of the environment from a top-down perspective.
  2. Then, indicate the different locations on the map where products are handled or where people must move to perform their tasks.
  3. Next, draw the lines of conveyance (for products) or movement (for people) between the different locations. These lines give the diagram its name because once completed, it resembles a tangled mess of spaghetti.

Use

  • With the current state diagram, try to optimize the locations to minimize both conveyance and motion.
  • This results in a future state diagram that streamlines conveyance and motion paths on the map.

Where to find it

IASSC Body of Knowledge:

Lean: 15

Yellow ➔ Understand
Green ➔ Evaluate
Black ➔ Create

Lean Six Sigma: –

Yellow ➔ N/A
Green ➔ N/A
Black ➔ N/A


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About the Author

Floris Lap is an IASSC-certified Lean Six Sigma Black Belt and founder of Procestimal. He empowers organizations to maximize value and reduce waste through practical Lean Six Sigma solutions—contributing to a more sustainable world where businesses thrive with minimal resources. Contact us


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