Help Center — Lean Operations Monitor

1. What you get

Lean Operations Monitor is an Excel add-in. Free tools stay free. Lean Ops Pro is optional.

Free — no account

OEE Calculator, Takt Time, and Pareto Analysis. Open them from the Lean Ops ribbon or Home.

Lean Ops Pro — subscription

Workbook setup, reference data, production and downtime logs, and analytics (OEE, losses, MTTR/MTBF, reports).

Home screen with free calculators and Lean Ops Pro — Home: start with OEE, or open Workbook after you unlock Pro.

2. Open the add-in

Install from AppSource In Excel, insert the add-in from Microsoft AppSource. After install, look for the Lean Ops tab on the ribbon (not only a button on Home).

Open the task pane Click any Lean Ops button (OEE is a good first click). The task pane opens on the right. You should see Home with the three free calculators.

Confirm Excel is connected Home shows an Excel Connected badge when the add-in can write to the workbook. If the pane is blank, reload the add-in and try again.

Excel Lean Ops ribbon tab with the task pane open — What you should see: Lean Ops ribbon groups (Calculators, Setup, Data, Logs, Analytics, Account) and the task pane.

3. Free tools

No sign-in. Use these any time, including before you subscribe.

OEE Calculator

Open OEE Lean Ops ribbon → Calculators → OEE, or Home → OEE Calculator.

Enter the shift numbers Planned production time, planned and unplanned downtime, ideal cycle time, total count, and rejects. Or tap a preset (Nominal / World Class / Poor) to see how the gauges move.

Read Availability, Performance, Quality, and OEE Then Export to Excel if you want a sheet you can keep.

OEE Calculator with gauges — OEE: enter times and counts, then export. Ideal cycle time is an input here — not a separate tool.

Takt Time

Open Takt Time Ribbon → Calculators → Takt Time, or Home → Takt Time Calculator.

Enter shift length, breaks, meetings, and customer demand The result is seconds per unit and units per hour — the pace you must hold to meet demand.

Export if you want a record Use Export to Excel. Compare this takt to your real cycle time on the floor; the calculator does not import cycle-time logs.

Takt Time Calculator — Takt Time: demand and available time become the required production pace.

Pareto Analysis

Open Pareto Ribbon → Calculators → Pareto, or Home → Pareto Chart Generator.

Enter categories and counts Type rows, use a preset, or select two columns in Excel (category, value) and tap Import Selection.

Read the vital few, then export Green bars are the categories that add up to about 80% of the total. Export writes the table and cumulative percent to Excel.

Pareto chart in the task pane — Free Pareto is a general vital-few chart. Downtime Pareto from shop-floor logs is a Pro Analytics feature.

4. Start Pro

Skip this section if you only need the free calculators.

Open Account Lean Ops ribbon → Account, or the Account item in the task-pane sidebar.

Sign in Microsoft, Google, or email (password or one-time code). Free tools still work if you never sign in.

Subscribe to Lean Ops Pro On Plan & Billing, choose monthly or annual. Checkout is billed by Paddle (not Microsoft). After payment, Setup, Data, Logs, and Analytics unlock. Cancel anytime via Manage billing in Account.

Account panel with sign-in options — Account: sign in with Microsoft, Google, or email.

This Help page does not open checkout. Use Account in the add-in for billing.

5. First Pro run (demo)

Do this once before you put your own plant in the workbook. Use the demo dataset (~91 days), not the tiny sample tables.

Open Workbook Home → Setup, Logs, and Analytics card, or sidebar Setup → Workbook tab.

Load demo dataset Tap Load demo dataset. Confirm if the dialog warns that existing tables will be overwritten. Watch the progress line. When it finishes, the Try Pro card should show Demo loaded.

Glance at Plant Profile See which options are on (operators, work centers, holidays, repair start). You do not need to change anything for the demo.

Edit one log row Open Logs → Production Log (or Planned / Unplanned Stops). Change one quantity or add one row. Confirm the Excel table and the helper stay in sync.

Open Analytics → Overview If charts are empty, tap Refresh and pick a date range that covers the demo (about the last 90 days). Then open Loss Analysis and Reports.

Workbook hub after loading the demo dataset — Workbook after a successful demo load. The Try Pro card shows Demo loaded.

Guided path: Workbook → demo → Plant Profile → one log edit → Analytics Overview → Reports.

6. Set up your plant

When you are ready to leave the demo, start from an empty workbook (or a copy) so you do not overwrite live data by accident.

Create empty tables Workbook → create empty tables. That writes the expected Excel Table headers. Do not rename those headers later.

Set Plant Profile first Turn on only what you will use (work centers, operators, holiday calendar, repair start). After you change toggles, recreate affected tables from Workbook so columns match.

Fill Setup Shifts, schedule exclusions, loss categories, and holiday / planned-maintenance calendars if you use them.

Fill Reference Data Machines, products, and product rates are required for OEE performance. Add work centers and operators only if the profile enables them.

Log every shift Production Log = product runs and pieces made (do not subtract stop minutes from quantity). Planned Stops = PM, audits, training. Unplanned Stops = breakdowns with a loss code. Overnight shifts (22:00 → 06:00) are valid.

Screenshot pending — save as 08-plant-profile.png

Plant Profile: decide optional columns before daily logging.

Production Log helper — Production Log: add or edit recent rows in the pane; Excel remains the system of record.

7. Read the plant

Analytics reads the workbook. After you load data or edit logs, tap Refresh.

Overview

Where do we stand? OEE / A / P / Q gauges, weekly trend, machine × shift heatmap, and the top losses for the filter.

Loss Analysis

Where did time go? Waterfall of planned time, downtime mix, Pareto (click a bar to drill), frequency vs duration, MTTR / MTBF, PM adherence.

Reports

Six export tables (machine, shift, weekly, downtime reason, reliability, day × shift × machine). Preview in the pane; export to sheets you can mail.

Filters

Period, work center, machine, shift, product, and operator (when enabled). Every number is for the selected period only.

Analytics Overview gauges and trend — Overview: plant standing for the selected filters.

Loss Analysis charts — Loss Analysis: where planned time was lost, and which machines to walk to.

Analytics Reports export list — Reports: export-ready tables for a supervisor review.

Empty charts usually mean: tables were never created, the date range misses the logs, or you have not tapped Refresh after a demo load.

8. Troubleshoot

Ribbon button does nothing

Confirm you are on a workbook (not a blank Excel start screen), then click again. The task pane needs the add-in host to load.

Blank task pane

Reload the add-in. If you recently updated from AppSource, close Excel and reopen the file.

Pro modules locked

Account → sign in and confirm the subscription is active. Free OEE / Takt / Pareto should still work while locked.

Demo load feels stuck

Watch the Workbook progress line. A full demo is large on Desktop. When finished, Try Pro should show “Demo loaded.”

Headers badge on a table

Someone renamed a required column, or Plant Profile changed. Recreate that table from Workbook (empty or demo).

Analytics empty

Load the demo (or enough of your own logs), confirm Machines / Product Rates / Shifts / Loss Categories exist, tap Refresh, and pick a date range that covers the data.

Log helper out of sync

Use Refresh in the helper. Edit the add-in table, not a renamed copy of the sheet.

Payment or sign-in problem

Use Account → Manage billing for Paddle. Email hello@leanexcel.com and include the diagnostics line below.

9. Concepts

OEE

Overall Equipment Effectiveness = how much of planned time produced good parts at the ideal rate.

OEE = Availability × Performance × Quality

Availability

Run time ÷ net planned time. Unplanned downtime hurts this.

Performance

Actual output vs ideal cycle time during run time.

Quality

Good count ÷ total count. Rejects reduce OEE even when the line is running.

When OEE “lies”

Wrong ideal cycle time, inflated planned time, or unlogged stops.

Takt Time

The beat the plant must hold to match customer demand.

Takt = Available time (shift − breaks − meetings) ÷ Customer demand

Pareto

Sort losses or defects by impact. The tall bars on the left are usually where improvement work pays off first.

What’s new

Manifest 1.2.0.0 · Lean Operations Monitor

Product name — Lean Operations Monitor (same add-in; Lean Ops Pro is unchanged).
Help Center — start-to-end operator path with screenshots. Click a picture to enlarge it.
Analytics charts — clearer axes and empty states in the narrow Excel pane.

Contact

Email: hello@leanexcel.com

Website: www.leanexcel.com

Legal: Terms of Service · Privacy Policy

Diagnostics: Lean Ops · add-in 1.2.0 · manifest 1.2.0.0

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