Skip to content
LeanSuite

Free template

Updated

Spaghetti diagram template

A spaghetti diagram is a drawing of the path a person, part or document takes through a work area, traced on the layout as it happens. The Lean Lexicon calls it a spaghetti chart, because the route often looks like a plate of spaghetti. Drawn to scale, it turns walking into numbers: trips, distance, walking time and the places where people cross a forklift aisle. This template has a printable sheet (squared paper, a stop list with grid positions and a trip log), a worked example drawn before and after a layout change, and an Excel workbook. In the Excel you set the scale (typed, or worked out from a wall you measured, in feet or meters), give each stop its grid position in the before and after layouts, and log each trip from one stop to the next. It works out the distance and walking time of every trip, flags trips that skip a stop, and compares before with after, per hour and per shift.

Free to use: print it, copy it and edit it for your team. Enter your name and work email once to download.

Page 1 of the spaghetti diagram templateFields for area, what was followed and observer, a squared-paper box to draw the layout and paths with a scale line, a table of stops with grid positions, and a trip log with from, to, squares, distance and aisle crossings.
Squared paper and scaleStops with grid positionsTrip logDistance in feet and metersWalking timeAisle crossingsBefore and afterWorked example
Filled-in Spaghetti diagram template: one kitter walking in a kitting area for an hour
The same sheet filled in with the worked example (page 2 of the PDF, illustrative numbers). Open full size (opens the picture in a new tab)

When to use it

When to use a spaghetti diagram

  • When operators or material handlers seem to walk a lot, or a job takes longer than the work in it.
  • Before a layout change, to measure the current paths, and after it, to prove the difference in feet and minutes.
  • On a waste walk, to show motion and transport waste with numbers rather than opinion.
  • When people or carts cross forklift aisles, to count the crossings a new layout would remove.

How to fill it in

  1. 1

    Choose what to follow

    One person, one part or one document, for a whole cycle or a set time such as an hour. Write it and the time on the sheet, and follow the same thing after the change.
  2. 2

    Draw the layout to scale

    Sketch walls, benches, racks and doors on the squared paper. Measure one wall and count the squares it spans: a 180 ft wall over 60 squares makes 1 square = 3 ft.
  3. 3

    Give each stop a grid position

    Letter the stops and write their column across and row down, counted in squares from the top left. In the Excel, give the after position too for anything you move.
  4. 4

    Trace and log every trip

    Walk behind the person and draw each move as it happens. A trip is one move from one stop to the next: log from, to, and whether it crossed an aisle. Do not draw from memory.
  5. 5

    Let the grid give the distance

    The Excel counts the squares across plus along between the two stops and multiplies by the scale. If the path bends round a rack, type the squares you counted along it instead.
  6. 6

    Change the layout and trace again

    Move what causes the long or crossing trips, try it, then follow the same person for the same time and compare trips, distance, walking time and crossings.

A filled-in example

Illustrative, not a benchmark

An example (illustrative): one kitter in a kitting area for one hour, at 1 square = 3 ft, walking at 4 ft/s. The PDF draws both layouts and the Excel Example sheets give the same numbers.

The example kitter's hour, before and after the new layout

Trips in the hour

Before
14
After
6

Feet walked in the hour

Before
1,098 ft
After
378 ft

Minutes walking in the hour

Before
4.6 min
After
1.6 min

Crossings of the forklift aisle

Before
4
After
none

Trips fell from 14 to 6, walking from 1,098 to 378 feet in the hour, walking time from 4.6 to 1.6 minutes, and forklift aisle crossings from 4 to none.

At 1 square = 3 ft, 366 squares are 1,098 ft and 126 squares are 378 ft: 720 ft less, 65.6%, after the printer moved next to the packing bench and the fast parts beside the kitting bench.
  • Before: 14 trips covering 366 squares, so 366 × 3 = 1,098 ft (334.7 m). Eight of the trips went to the label printer and the fast parts rack at opposite ends of the area, 30 squares from the kitting bench each way.
  • The four trips to the printer crossed the forklift aisle.
  • New layout: the printer moved next to the packing bench and the fast parts to a rack beside the kitting bench, so labels and parts no longer need a trip.
  • Traced again for an hour: 6 trips, 126 squares, 378 ft (115.2 m), no aisle crossings.

Walking fell by 720 ft, 65.6%, and walking time from 4.6 to 1.6 minutes an hour (1,098 ÷ 4 = 274.5 seconds against 94.5). If the hour is typical of a 7.5-hour shift, that is 5,400 ft and 22.5 minutes of walking saved per shift.

Common mistakes

  • Drawing from memory

    People forget the short trips and the double-backs. Trace it live.

  • No scale

    Without a scale the distances are guesses. Measure one wall and set the squares from it.

  • Straight lines through racks

    People walk along aisles. Use across plus along on the grid, and count the squares along the real path where it bends.

  • Following something different before and after

    Compare the same person or part, the same task and the same length of time. The Excel flags different observation times and compares per hour instead.

  • Counting distance but not crossings

    A short trip across a forklift aisle can matter more than a long one along a walkway. Log the crossings.

  • Blaming the walker

    The paths come from the layout and the process. Change those, not the person.

Download the template

Free to use: print it, copy it and edit it for your team. Enter your name and work email once to download.

Run this template in LeanSuite

LeanSuite builds a current-state value stream map from phone video of each process step, with measured cycle times, the inventory between steps and the lead time, and lets you branch it into a future state to compare side by side.

See it in a 45-minute demo

FAQ

Spaghetti diagram template: common questions

  1. A drawing of the path a person, part or document takes through a work area, traced on the layout as it happens. The Lean Lexicon calls it a spaghetti chart because the route often looks like a plate of spaghetti.

  2. Draw the layout to scale on squared paper, count the squares along each trip and multiply by the scale. In the example 1 square is 3 ft, so 366 squares is 1,098 ft. The Excel counts across plus along between the stops' grid positions for you.

  3. Divide the distance by the walking speed. The Excel starts at 4 ft/s (1.22 m/s), the design speed Knoblauch and colleagues recommended in 1996 for adults under 65; time a walk in your own area, because people carrying parts walk slower.

  4. A value stream map shows the flow of material and information across a whole process, with times and inventory. A spaghetti diagram zooms into one area and measures the physical paths people and parts take.

  5. A whole cycle for a long job, or a set time such as an hour for a repetitive one. Use the same length before and after; if they differ, compare the distance per hour.

More free templates

All templates
Browse all 278 templates

Can't find the template you need?

Tell us what you're looking for. We'll make it and send it to your inbox, free.

A shift handover sheet, a red tag log, a changeover checklist for one machine: if your team uses it on the floor, ask.

By sending this form you agree to our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy.

Pass it on

We want LeanSuite to be the best place on the internet for lean help. If this was useful, send it to someone on your team or in your network who needs it.