Guide with a worked sample
Bowling chart: what it is, how to read one and how to build it
Short answer
A bowling chart is a grid with one row for each target and a plan value and an actual value for every month. Each actual is green if it met the plan and red if it did not. It is the monthly check on a hoshin kanri plan, and some plants call it a bowler chart.
Last updated:
| Target, owner, direction | Row | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| T1 OEE, Lines 1 to 3Production. Higher is better. Baseline 71%, target 76% in December. | Plan | 71 | 72 | 72 | 73 | 73 | 74 |
| Actual | 71, on plan | 72, on plan | 72, on plan | 72, off plan | 71, off plan | not yet | |
| T2 Average press changeoverEngineering. Lower is better. Baseline 40 min, target 28 minutes. | Plan | 40 | 40 | 38 | 36 | 34 | 34 |
| Actual | 40, on plan | 41, off plan | 38, on plan | 37, off plan | 34, on plan | not yet | |
| T5 Customer PPMQuality. Lower is better. Baseline 180 PPM, target 120 or lower. | Plan | 180 | 175 | 170 | 160 | 155 | 150 |
| Actual | 178, on plan | 174, on plan | 170, on plan | 162, off plan | 154, on plan | not yet |
The definition
What is a bowling chart?
A bowling chart is a monthly scorecard. Each row is one target or improvement project, with an owner, a baseline, and a plan value and an actual value for every month of the year. The actual is green when it meets the plan and red when it does not. It is usually the review sheet for an X-matrix.
You will see two spellings, bowling chart and bowler chart, for the same grid. It is the monthly half of a hoshin kanri plan. The X-matrix is drawn once a year and says what the plant will do. The bowling chart is updated every month and says whether it is happening. The method behind both is on the hoshin kanri guide.
Christoph Roser describes the layout as a named owner, a purpose and a last-updated date at the top, then one row for each project or deliverable with a numeric baseline and its unit, and below that a year of months with the target for each point in time. On his chart, green means on target or better and red means behind.
The real layout
What is on a bowling chart?
Every row carries the same parts: the measure and its unit, the owner, the baseline, the target for the year, then two lines under the months. The top line is the plan and the bottom line is the actual. Roser's version adds a named owner and a last-updated date to the top of the sheet.
| Target, owner, direction | Row | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| T1 OEE, Lines 1 to 3Production. Higher is better. Baseline 71%, target 76% in December. | Plan | 71 | 72 | 72 | 73 | 73 | 74 | 74 | 75 | 75 | 76 | 76 | 76 |
| Actual | 71, on plan | 72, on plan | 72, on plan | 72, off plan | 71, off plan | not yet | not yet | not yet | not yet | not yet | not yet | not yet | |
| T2 Average press changeoverEngineering. Lower is better. Baseline 40 min, target 28 minutes. | Plan | 40 | 40 | 38 | 36 | 34 | 34 | 32 | 32 | 30 | 30 | 28 | 28 |
| Actual | 40, on plan | 41, off plan | 38, on plan | 37, off plan | 34, on plan | not yet | not yet | not yet | not yet | not yet | not yet | not yet | |
| T3 Unplanned stops, Lines 1 to 3Maintenance. Lower is better. Baseline 52 hours a month, target under 30 hours a month. | Plan | 52 | 50 | 46 | 42 | 38 | 34 | 32 | 31 | 29 | 29 | 29 | 29 |
| Actual | 51, on plan | 52, off plan | 45, on plan | 41, on plan | 37, on plan | not yet | not yet | not yet | not yet | not yet | not yet | not yet | |
| T4 Near misses reportedSafety. Higher is better. Baseline 18 a month, target 40 or more a month. | Plan | 20 | 24 | 28 | 32 | 36 | 40 | 40 | 40 | 40 | 40 | 40 | 40 |
| Actual | 21, on plan | 26, on plan | 27, off plan | 33, on plan | 38, on plan | not yet | not yet | not yet | not yet | not yet | not yet | not yet | |
| T5 Customer PPMQuality. Lower is better. Baseline 180 PPM, target 120 or lower. | Plan | 180 | 175 | 170 | 160 | 155 | 150 | 145 | 140 | 135 | 130 | 125 | 120 |
| Actual | 178, on plan | 174, on plan | 170, on plan | 162, off plan | 154, on plan | not yet | not yet | not yet | not yet | not yet | not yet | not yet |
- Meets the plan in the good direction
- Misses it
- Month not in yet (May is the latest)
| Aspect | What goes in it | Why it is there |
|---|---|---|
| Target and unit | Press changeover, in minutes | So a cell is never read without knowing what it counts. |
| Owner | A named person, not a department | One person to ask when the row goes red. |
| Baseline | Where the measure started the year | Shows how far the plan has to travel. |
| Direction | Higher is better, or lower is better | The color rule needs it, and it differs between rows. |
| Target | The year-end value, from the X-matrix | The last number on the plan line, and nowhere else. |
| Plan line | The value that counts as on track in each month | What each actual is compared with. |
| Actual line | The result the owner enters for the month | Green if it meets the plan, red if it does not. |
| Top of the sheet | Chart owner, purpose, date last updated | So a reader knows whose chart it is and whether it is current. |
Reading a row
How do you read a bowling chart?
Read one row at a time, left to right. For each month, compare the actual with the plan in the direction that is good for that measure: lower is good for changeover time, higher is good for OEE. A green cell needs one sentence. A red cell needs a countermeasure from the owner at the next review.
- 1
Start with the direction
Check which way is good before you look at a color. OEE and near misses reported are better when higher. Changeover time, unplanned stops and PPM are better when lower. On the sample, press changeover was 41 minutes in February against a plan of 40, so it is red even though 41 looks close.
- 2
Read the row for its story
Changeover is red in February and April and green in the other three months. Two misses of one minute each and no run of reds: a word with the owner, not an A3. Unplanned stops have one red, in February (52 hours against a plan of 50), then three greens.
- 3
Find the two reds in a row
OEE on Lines 1 to 3 is 72% in April against a plan of 73%, then 71% in May against 73%. Two reds in a row. This is the row to take to the review with an A3 and a named lead. The plan stays where it is.
- 4
Look across rows before you look down them
Customer PPM is red only in April, at 162 against 160. Near misses reported are red only in March, at 27 against 28. One red in a month on a row that is otherwise green is a conversation with the owner, not a meeting.
- Red cellThe actual missed the plan in the good direction.
- Owner brings a countermeasureTo the next review, with the cause they found.
- Red againTwo reds in a row on the same row.
- A3 and a named leadA written analysis and one person who owns it.
- The plan does not moveThe month does not turn green because the plan was rewritten.
Setting the plan
What should the plan line look like?
Often a step, not a straight line. Improvement does not arrive evenly: a changeover fix does nothing until the new fixture is fitted, then drops the time at once. A straight line from baseline to target turns a healthy project red in the early months. Set the plan month by month from the project plan.
Roser gives two reasons. A problem-solving project spends a large part of its time planning before anything changes, so a straight line is red from the start. And work that waits on a delivery shows no gain until the delivery arrives.
His fix is a step function, with more steps for a larger project, and a decision about when each step lands. The chart below draws the changeover row from the sample both ways. The dashed line is what a straight plan would ask for; the black line is the plan the project actually supports.
- Actual on plan
- Actual off plan
The other side
What does a bowling chart not tell you?
Red and green show whether a month met the plan. They do not show whether the process moved, whether a miss is noise or a real shift, or why. A site that is always green can be drifting down, and a site that is always red can be steady. Add a run chart under any row you are unsure about.
- 1
A run chart under any row you doubt
Plot the actuals in time order with the plan line. Most of what a bowling chart hides shows up as soon as the points are joined.
- 2
Control limits when the row is a rate
Graban recommends process behavior charts: a run chart with limits calculated from the data, so a point outside them, or eight in a row on one side of the average, is treated as a real signal.
- 3
Keep the colors as a bridge
Graban suggests overlaying the red and green target on the process behavior chart, so people used to the bowling chart can still see it.
Building one
How do you build a bowling chart?
A spreadsheet is enough. One block of two lines per target, a conditional format on the actual line, and the rules written on the sheet. The free hoshin bowling chart template has the layout ready.
- 1
Take the rows from the plan, not from the data you have
Start from the targets on the right side of the X-matrix, or from the improvement projects if you use Roser's version. One row per target. Five to eight rows is a usable chart; past ten, the review turns into reading.
- 2
Give every row one owner, one unit and a baseline
A named person, not a department. Write the unit next to the name (minutes, %, PPM, a month) and the starting value, so a cell is never read without knowing what it counts.
- 3
Write the direction
Higher is better or lower is better, in a column. The color rule uses it, and it is the most common cause of a green cell that should be red.
- 4
Build the plan line month by month
Spread the year-end target across twelve months from the project plan. If nothing changes until a fixture arrives in May, the plan is flat until May and then steps. Put the year-end target in the last month and nowhere else.
- 5
Decide the color rule once
Green when the actual meets the plan, red when it does not, and say what happens to a result exactly on the plan (it is green). Roser warns that a yellow band invites almost-good-enough excuses; if you keep yellow, write down its exact range first.
- 6
Fix who enters the actual, and by when
The owner enters the month's result before the review. The meeting is for what to do about it. Put the date the sheet was last updated at the top.
- 7
Write down what a red does
The owner brings a countermeasure. Two reds in a row on one row start an A3 with a named lead. The plan line is not rewritten to turn a month green. Put those three sentences on the chart so nobody has to remember them.
Choosing rows
Should the rows be KPIs or projects?
Both are in use. Roser uses the bowler chart for improvement projects, each with one numeric target, and keeps long-term KPIs off it. Many hoshin plants put the plan's targets on it, and those targets are usually KPIs with a year-end value. Pick one and say so at the top of the sheet, so the rows are comparable.
| Aspect | Project rows | KPI rows |
|---|---|---|
| What a row is | An improvement project or deliverable with one numeric target | A measure of the process with a year-end value |
| Who uses it that way | Roser's bowler chart: projects on the chart, KPIs elsewhere | Most hoshin plans: the targets on the right of the X-matrix |
| Plan line | Usually a step: nothing until the work lands | Often a ramp from the baseline to the year-end value |
| After the year | The row is retired when the project is done | The row stays next year with a new target |
| Fits best | A team running a handful of projects | A plant reviewing the plan's targets every month |
What goes wrong
Common mistakes with bowling charts
No direction column
A lower number is red on one row and green on the next. Without a written direction, someone colors a 41-minute changeover green because it is close to 40.
Rewriting the plan to stay green
The chart then records what was achieved, not whether the plan worked. Keep the original plan visible; if the plan was wrong, say so at the quarterly review and change it from the next month.
A straight line to the year-end target
It turns a healthy project red for months. Draw the plan from the work plan, as in the changeover row, where the steps follow the SMED waves.
Too many rows
Twenty rows means the X-matrix was not selective. The review reads the cells and the actions never get discussed.
Using it as a blame sheet
Graban describes the red and green grid becoming a way to decide who to shout at, and managers answering by setting easy targets. Ask what happened and what the countermeasure is, not who.
Reacting to every red
A single miss on a noisy measure is often noise. Look at the run of the last six to twelve points before you start an investigation.
Sources
- Christoph Roser, The Bowler Chart: Tracking Your Projects, AllAboutLean (opens in a new tab)The layout (owner, purpose and date on top, one row per project with a numeric baseline and target, a year of months below), green for on target or better and red for behind, one quantitative target per row, and the point that it tracks projects rather than long-term KPIs.
- Christoph Roser, The Bowler Chart: Caveats and Improvements, AllAboutLean (opens in a new tab)Why a linear target can show a healthy project as red, a step function as the fix, what yellow invites, why tables hide changes, and limiting the number of projects.
- Mark Graban, Bowling Charts Are Not State-of-the-Art Management, LeanBlog (opens in a new tab)What red and green hide, with examples, and the case for run charts and process behavior charts beside them.
- Lean Enterprise Institute: hoshin kanri (opens in a new tab)Hoshin kanri as a framework built on plan-do-check-act thinking, connecting goals from executives to front-line staff.
In LeanSuite
The bowling chart in LeanSuite
In LeanSuite the bowling chart sits on top of KPIs that already roll up.
The bowling chart
LeanSuite has a bowling chart: one row per KPI, plan against actual by month, with the month's result in green or red.
KPI trees that roll up
The KPIs on it come from multi-level KPI trees. A result entered at a department rolls up to the plant and the company, so a plant's row and the company's row are the same number counted once.
A red KPI opens the response
A red KPI opens an action, an A3 or a project from the KPI itself, so the countermeasure and the row stay together.
The goal it measures
On the X-matrix, each annual objective is shown with the KPI that measures it, so the row on the bowling chart and the objective on the matrix point at the same KPI.
Where to look next
See it on your own goals
Try the interactive demo in your browser with sample data, or pilot LeanSuite on your own lines for 90 days, with the setup done by our team.
Read more on bowling charts and hoshin kanri
- X-matrix: how to read one and how to build itThe plan the bowling chart checks, read side by side.
- Hoshin kanri: meaning, the 7 steps and a filled X-matrix exampleThe method the bowling chart belongs to.
- OKR vs KPI, and where hoshin kanri fitsHow monthly KPIs sit under quarterly OKRs and the annual plan.
- Cascading goals and goal alignmentHow a goal reaches each plant, and what each replies.
- Hoshin kanri review cycles: monthly and quarterlyWhat each review checks and who attends.
- Manufacturing KPIs: formulas and targetsThe plant KPIs behind most bowling chart rows.
- Hoshin bowling chart templateA free chart to fill in.
- Goal cascade and alignment templateCascade the annual objectives the chart measures.
FAQ
Questions about bowling charts
A bowling chart is a monthly scorecard with one row per target. Each row shows an owner, a baseline, and a plan value and an actual value for every month of the year. The actual is green when it meets the plan and red when it does not. It is the monthly check that goes with an X-matrix in hoshin kanri.
Nothing in the method. The two spellings are used for the same grid. Roser writes bowler chart; many plants and templates write bowling chart, and a search for either lands on the same kind of sheet.
Check the direction first: lower is good for changeover time and PPM, higher is good for OEE. Then go along one row and compare each actual with the plan above it. A green cell needs a sentence. A red cell needs a countermeasure from the owner. Two reds in a row on one row should start an A3.
Put one row per target with the owner, baseline and direction, then a plan row and an actual row under the twelve months. Add a conditional format on the actual row: green if the actual meets the plan in the good direction, red if not. The free hoshin bowling chart template on this site has the layout ready.
Usually not. Roser points out that improvement rarely follows a straight line and a linear target can show a healthy project as red. Draw the plan from the work plan: flat until the change lands, then a step. For a ramp that really is gradual, a straight line is fine.
Whether a miss is noise or a real shift, and whether the process is moving at all. Graban gives the example of a site that is always green but drifting down, and a site that is always red but steady inside its own range. A run chart or a process behavior chart under the row shows what the colors cannot.
A KPI dashboard shows the current value and often a trend for many measures. A bowling chart shows twelve months of plan against actual for a few targets, with one owner each and a rule for what a red does. The rows of a bowling chart are usually KPIs, so the two draw on the same numbers.
Five to eight is a usable chart. Past ten, the review turns into reading cells. If the chart keeps growing, the X-matrix behind it was not selective enough, and the fix is on the matrix, not on the chart.
LeanSuite has a bowling chart with multi-level KPI trees behind it that roll up from department to plant to company. A red KPI opens an action, an A3 or a project. On the X-matrix, each annual objective is shown with the KPI that measures it.
Want the monthly review to run itself on one screen?
Bring your X-matrix and your bowling chart, and we will show you on a call how the KPIs, the chart and the response to a red month fit together in LeanSuite.