Why is it called a bowling chart?

Because a row of monthly scores with a running total looks like a ten-pin bowling score sheet. The name stuck in hoshin kanri practice.

Where do the planned values come from?

From the hoshin plan, usually laid out on an X-matrix: the annual target for each metric, spread across the months. A flat spread is fine to start; a ramp is better when the improvement lands later in the year.

What happens with a red month?

The owner brings a countermeasure to the review, and a KPI red two months running gets an A3. The chart is for deciding where to spend problem-solving effort, not for blame.

Bowling chart or X-matrix?

The X-matrix is the plan: objectives, priorities and metrics and how they link. The bowling chart is the monthly scorecard for those metrics. Draw the matrix once a year; fill the chart every month.

Who owns the bowling chart?

The plant manager or the hoshin lead owns the chart and runs the review; each KPI row has an owner who fills in the actual and brings the countermeasure.

How often do you update it?

Monthly, before the review. Some plants keep a weekly version for one or two KPIs that move fast, but the bowling chart itself is a monthly document.

Lean Studio board · Daily management

Hoshin Bowling Chart board

In one sentence

A hoshin bowling chart is a monthly scorecard for a strategy deployment plan: one row per hoshin KPI showing the planned and actual value for each month of the year side by side, coloured green when actual meets plan and red when it does not.

A bowling chart is the monthly scorecard of a hoshin plan: for each KPI, the planned value and the actual value for every month of the year, side by side, coloured green when the actual meets the plan and red when it does not. Its name comes from the way the row of numbers looks like a bowling score sheet.

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KPI		Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	YTD
OEE, Line 2	Plan	72%	73%	74%	75%	76%	74%
	Actual	73%	72%	75%	75%	74%	74%
Recordable incidents	Plan	0	0	0	0	0	0
	Actual	0	0	1	0	0	1
On-time delivery	Plan	92%	93%	94%	95%	95%	94%
	Actual	93%	94%	93%	95%	96%	94%

When to use it

When to use the Hoshin Bowling Chart board

At the monthly hoshin or strategy review, to see which of the year's targets are on track.
As the follow-up to an X-matrix, where the targets to improve were chosen.
When a plant reports monthly numbers but nobody compares them with the plan for that month.
To decide which red KPI gets an A3 this month.

What is on the board

1
KPI rows
One per hoshin metric, with the owner.
2
Plan row
The planned value for each month, set at the start of the year.
3
Actual row
The month's result, filled in at the review.
4
Colour
Green when actual meets plan, red when it does not.
5
Year to date
The cumulative plan and actual.

Running it

How to run a Hoshin Bowling Chart session

1
Take the metrics and annual targets from the X-matrix, and give each KPI one owner who will present it every month.
2
Spread each annual target across twelve monthly plan values before the year starts. Use a ramp where the improvement lands late, not a flat line.
3
Hold the review monthly, in the first week of the month, at the chart; typically 60 to 90 minutes for the plant leadership team.
4
Owners fill in the actual before the review. In the meeting, go row by row: green rows get a sentence, red rows get the countermeasure the owner brought.
5
A KPI red for the second month running gets an A3, with a lead named in the meeting. Do not rewrite the plan to make it green.
6
Once a quarter, step back to the X-matrix: are the priorities delivering the metrics, or is a priority itself wrong?
7
Good output: every red month with a countermeasure and an owner, one or two A3s opened a quarter, and a year-end where the misses were known in March.

Worked example · sample data

Worked example

The sample chart tracks three hoshin KPIs from January to May. OEE on Line 2 planned a ramp from 72% to 76%: actuals were 73, 72, 75, 75 and 74, so February and May are red while the year to date sits on plan at 74%. Recordable incidents planned zero every month and hit it except March, when one incident made the month and the year to date red. On-time delivery planned 92% rising to 95%: actuals were 93, 94, 93, 95 and 96, with only March red. At the May review the OEE owner brought a countermeasure for the May dip, a changeover that ran long twice, and the team noted that OEE had now missed twice in five months. The May miss was not a second consecutive red, so no A3 yet; the June result will decide it.

The board shown at the top of this page, read through. Invented data, not a customer.

Plan against actual, Jan to May

OEE, Line 2
1. Jan73%against a plan of 72%
2. Feb72%against a plan of 73%
3. Mar75%against a plan of 74%
4. Apr75%against a plan of 75%
5. May74%against a plan of 76%
6. YTD74%against a plan of 74%
Two red months (Feb and May), not consecutive: a countermeasure each time, no A3 yet. The next month decides it.
Recordable incidents
1. Jan0against a plan of 0
2. Feb0against a plan of 0
3. Mar1against a plan of 0
4. Apr0against a plan of 0
5. May0against a plan of 0
6. YTD1against a plan of 0
One red month (Mar): the owner brings the countermeasure; year to date red.
On-time delivery
1. Jan93%against a plan of 92%
2. Feb94%against a plan of 93%
3. Mar93%against a plan of 94%
4. Apr95%against a plan of 95%
5. May96%against a plan of 95%
6. YTD94%against a plan of 94%
One red month (Mar): the owner brings the countermeasure; year to date still on plan.

In each cell: actual on top, plan below. meets plan misses plan

Each month shows the actual over its plan; the cell is green when the actual meets the plan and red when it does not. The last column is the year to date. The line under each row applies the page's rule: a KPI red for the second month running gets an A3.

Common mistakes

Changing the plan mid-year so the reds go away. The plan is the plan; the countermeasure is the response.
Flat monthly targets for an improvement that cannot land until Q3, so the first half is red by design.
Reviewing actuals without plans, which is a report, not a bowling chart.
Reds discussed, no countermeasure recorded, same red next month.
Twenty KPIs. A bowling chart with more than eight to ten rows means the X-matrix was not selective.

How it works in Lean Studio

1
Start from the Hoshin Bowling Chart template: a Scorecard widget set to month by month, with a plan and an actual per KPI and a year-to-date column.
2
Enter the twelve planned values per KPI once, then the actual each month at the review.
3
Add a sticky under any red month with the countermeasure and its owner, and link the A3 board when there is one.
4
Save the finished board to My templates so the next team starts from your version.

Lean Studio boards are drawn with stickies, text, shapes (rectangle, rounded rectangle, ellipse, diamond), arrows and charts, and any board can carry the 15 data widgets, from a scorecard to a kanban. See all widgets and boards.

Also in LeanSuite

Where it goes next in LeanSuite

LeanSuite's KPI dashboards track every KPI against its target with RAG ranges, KPI trees and live huddle boards.

Each row is a KPI in the KPI builder with its target, RAG ranges and frequency; the Scorecard widget shows it month by month against target with a year-to-date column, and department KPIs roll up to plant and company through KPI trees. KPI Dashboards
A red KPI two months running becomes an A3 in Kaizen & Projects, with owners, phases and savings tracked against plant targets. Kaizen & Projects
The monthly review is a tier meeting: plant and executive reviews run on Lean Studio boards with the same numbers as the gemba, and actions are assigned from the board. Tiered Meetings

See KPI Dashboards

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Hoshin Bowling Chart is one of the 30 ready-made boards in Lean Studio, LeanSuite's whiteboard. 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.

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