How do you read an X-matrix?

Clockwise from the bottom: a breakthrough objective links to an annual objective on the left, which links to an improvement priority on the top, which is measured by a metric on the right. The dots in the corner grids show each link, and the far-right columns show who owns each priority.

How many objectives and priorities should it have?

Three or four breakthroughs, four to six annual objectives, five to eight priorities. A matrix with twenty priorities is a to-do list, not a strategy; the point of the exercise is what gets left off.

The back-and-forth between levels while the matrix is drafted: leadership proposes objectives, departments respond with what they can commit to and what they need, and the matrix is adjusted until both sides agree. It is what makes the targets owned rather than assigned.

How is progress tracked during the year?

On a bowling chart: each metric's planned value per month against the actual, reviewed monthly. A red month gets a countermeasure and, if it repeats, an A3.

X-matrix or bowling chart?

The X-matrix is the plan, drawn once a year: objectives, priorities, metrics and how they link. The bowling chart is the monthly scorecard for the metrics on the east side. One without the other is either a poster or a report.

Who owns the X-matrix?

The plant manager owns the page; each improvement priority has an owner named on the far right. Departments own the annual objectives they committed to in catchball.

Lean Studio board · Team & strategy

Hoshin Kanri X-Matrix board

In one sentence

A hoshin kanri X-matrix is a one-page strategy deployment plan that arranges breakthrough objectives, annual objectives, improvement priorities and metrics on the four sides of an X, with correlation marks in the corners showing which links to which and who owns each priority.

An X-matrix is the one-page plan of hoshin kanri: the three-to-five-year breakthrough objectives on one side, this year's objectives on the next, the improvement priorities that deliver them on the third and the metrics that prove it on the fourth, with the corners showing which links to which and who owns it. It is how a plant makes sure every project traces to a strategy.

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When to use it

When to use the Hoshin Kanri X-Matrix board

Once a year, when the site's objectives are set and the improvement projects for the year are chosen.
When a plant has more projects than people and needs to drop the ones that serve no objective.
To run catchball: the draft matrix goes down to departments and comes back with their commitments.
As the source of the bowling chart's KPIs and planned values.

What is on the board

1
Breakthrough objectives (south)
Three to five-year goals, usually three or four.
2
Annual objectives (west)
What this year must deliver toward each breakthrough.
3
Improvement priorities (north)
The projects and programmes that deliver the annual objectives.
4
Metrics (east)
The measures and targets that show each priority is working.
5
Correlation corners
A dot where a row and a column are linked; owners along the far right.

Running it

How to run a Hoshin Kanri X-Matrix session

1
The leadership team, one or two days, once a year, after the SWOT and before budgets are fixed. A facilitator who is not the plant manager helps.
2
South side first: three or four breakthrough objectives for three to five years. If there are eight, you have a wish list.
3
West side: what this year must deliver toward each breakthrough, as numbers. Mark the correlation dots between the two sides.
4
North side: the five to eight improvement priorities that will deliver the annual objectives. Every priority must dot to at least one objective; anything that does not is cut.
5
East side: the metric that proves each priority is working, with its target. Add the owner for each priority in the far-right columns.
6
Catchball: send the draft down to departments for two or three weeks, take back what they can commit to and what they need, and adjust. Then copy the metrics to a bowling chart.
7
Good output: a single page the leadership team will defend, fewer priorities than last year, an owner per priority, and a bowling chart ready for January.

Worked example · sample data

Worked example

The sample matrix has two breakthrough objectives: OEE at 85% on every line by 2028, and zero recordable incidents. This year's objectives step toward them: OEE from 71% to 76% on Lines 1 to 3, changeover time cut by 30%, and recordables down from four to one. Three improvement priorities carry those: an SMED programme on the presses, autonomous maintenance on Lines 1 to 3, and near-miss reporting on all shifts. Four metrics prove them: OEE monthly, changeover minutes, near misses reported and recordables. The corner dots show the SMED programme feeding both the changeover and the OEE objectives, which is why it got the strongest owner. After catchball, maintenance asked for a second technician on nights before committing to autonomous maintenance, and the matrix went to the bowling chart with that condition recorded.

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

Common mistakes

Too many priorities. The matrix's value is what it leaves off.
Priorities that dot to nothing, kept because someone likes them.
Metrics that are activities ('training delivered') instead of results.
Skipping catchball, so the targets are assigned rather than owned.
No bowling chart afterwards, so the matrix is admired in January and forgotten by March.
Redrawing it mid-year every time a customer changes their mind.

How it works in Lean Studio

1
Start from the Hoshin Kanri X-Matrix template: the four sides and corner grids drawn, with rows for owners.
2
Type the objectives, priorities and metrics into their sides, then mark each correlation with a filled ellipse in the corner grids.
3
Add the owner's name against each priority and copy the metrics to a Hoshin Bowling Chart board for the monthly review.
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 priority becomes a Kaizen project or a programme of them, with owners, phases and hard and soft savings tracked against plant and company targets. Kaizen & Projects
Each metric is a KPI in the KPI builder with its target and RAG ranges; department KPIs roll up to plant and company through KPI trees, and the Scorecard widget tracks them month by month with a year-to-date column. KPI Dashboards
The monthly and quarterly reviews are tier 3 and tier 4 meetings run on Lean Studio boards with the same numbers as the gemba. Tiered Meetings

See KPI Dashboards

Open this board in LeanSuite

Hoshin Kanri X-Matrix 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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