Hour-by-HourHour-by-Hour Board
Production Analysis Board
A board that solves, not just scores
An hour-by-hour board (production analysis board) sits at the exit of a cell or line. Every hour you write the plan and the actual, so a problem shows up while you can still act on it — not at the end of the shift.
| Time | Plan / Actual | Cumulative | Problem → Response | Sign | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| / | 90 / 90 | ||||
| / | 180 / 178 | ||||
| / | 270 / 268 | ||||
| / | 360 / 353 | ||||
| / | 450 / 443 | ||||
| / | 540 / 533 | ||||
| / | 630 / 619 | ||||
| / | 690 / 679 |
Cumulative pace — plan vs actual
Loss Pareto — where the units went
Biggest recurring loss: Scratch on front cover (−5). That is the one worth a real root-cause effort.
What is an hour-by-hour board?
An hour-by-hour board — also called a production analysis board — is a display at the exit of a cell or line where a team leader records, every hour, the planned output versus the actual output, plus the reason for any miss and what was done about it. It is one of the simplest and most powerful tools in the Toyota Production System: it surfaces a problem in the hour it happens, while there is still time to react, instead of at the end of the shift when the units are already lost.
How the hourly plan is calculated
The plan for each hour comes from takt time and the working time available in the hour: plan = working seconds ÷ takt. At a takt of 40 seconds and 3,600 working seconds, the plan is 90 pieces an hour. Subtract planned breaks from the working minutes first — a board that plans a full 90 in an hour containing a 10-minute break is set up to fail. This tool does that math for you as you type.
How to use this tool
Start from the loaded example, then edit it: set your takt and working minutes to get the hourly plan, add a row per hour, and log each hour's actual. When an hour misses, name the specific cause (“scratch on front cover”, not “quality”) and mark the response — fixed at the line, or contained and escalated. The cumulative pace line shows whether the shift is ahead or behind, and the loss Pareto stacks your reason codes so the biggest recurring loss stands out. Use Download Printout to print a blank or filled board for the floor.
From the board to a countermeasure
Keeping the board is not the objective — acting on it is. A quick problem gets fixed at the line and stops recurring; a recurring one that a quick fix can't touch rises to the top of the Pareto and earns a structured investigation with the 5 Whys or an A3. See the full walkthrough in the Hour-by-Hour Board field guide, which runs a whole shift and follows one loss all the way to a fix.