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Spaghetti Diagram: What Is It?

A Spaghetti Diagram is a top down diagram of the flow of product as it moves through the process or value stream.

Most commonly used for a single shop, floor or warehouse, a spaghetti diagram begins by drawing in the workstations, touch-points or departments and then draws lines between them to show the process flow.  It can also be used for a “high level” view across multiple departments or warehouses.

Often a diagram created before a Lean Transformation will look like a bowl of spaghetti, hence the name.

Things we can do to improve the look of our diagram include 5s to organise our space, reduce clutter and keep things close at hand, reduce any of the eight wastes, and even analyse the stations with the most touch points so we can move them close together.

By David McLachlan

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