Free Andon Board Template
Who needs help, who's on it, and how long they've waited, on one screen. Download it, type your station names, and put it on a TV.
Excel file · No macros · Works in older versions of Excel · No sign-up
Get the one-page overview
The full picture in one page — features, pricing, and what setup looks like.
What's inside
- A Board for the TV: one row per station in green, yellow, or red, with the type of help, who took it, and minutes waiting
- Calls nobody takes within your time limit turn red and show LATE
- A call log that works out response and fix times, with a summary by type of help and by shift
- An hour-by-hour board: target vs. actual, running totals, and red when you're behind
- A Settings tab for your own types of help, shifts, and time limit
Simple on purpose
Orange cells are where you type. Green cells are calculated for you. That's the whole system.
Up and running in 5 minutes
- On the Settings tab, list your types of help and set the minutes before a call is late.
- On the Board tab, type your station names and put it on a TV.
- When someone needs help, pick the status and the type of help, and press Ctrl+Shift+; to stamp the time.
Rather build your own? The step-by-step guide shows how, and the signs you've outgrown it. Read the guide →
When a spreadsheet stops being enough
Someone has to type every call, and a yellow cell doesn't tell anyone. Andon Tool turns calls into taps on a phone or tablet: the call shows on every board within seconds, responders claim it by name, response times are recorded automatically, counting only working time, and a call nobody answers in time turns red on every board.
FAQ
- What is an Andon board?
- A board that shows at a glance which stations need help and what kind. The idea comes from the Toyota Production System: anyone can signal a problem, and the signal is hard to ignore.
- Does it update by itself?
- Partly. Colors change as soon as someone types, and minutes waiting update whenever the sheet recalculates: after any edit, or when you press F9. Someone still has to type each call.
- Does it need macros?
- No. There are no macros and no links to other files, so it opens in Excel without enabling anything.
- Can several people use it at once?
- Yes, if the file is in OneDrive or SharePoint. On a shared network drive, the second person to open it usually gets a read-only copy.