Spaghetti chart

A spaghetti chart is a graphical aid used in lean manufacturing activities. It is used to detail the actual physical flow and distances involved in a work process. Processes that have not been streamlined frequently are poorly laid out with work/product taking a path through the work area that looks like a mass of cooked spaghetti.

To create a spaghetti chart you first create a scale map of a work station or work process. The next step is to draw a line from the initial point of work to the next step, then the third step, and so on until the work/product exits the work area. Examination of this resulting chart will show where improvements are to be made.

Using the information provided by the process chart is to be used to physically relocate work steps so that work/product does not backtrack at any point and proceeds in a linear fashion. A common end layout resulting from using a spaghetti chart is a "U" - shaped workstation where material enters on one end and exits in parallel fashion with all work steps completed.