Frames per stop
Frames per stop is a term used in the bowling industry by technicians, manufacturers, and others involved in this recreation industry. The term refers to how many frames, on average, a group of pinsetters is able to operate without a stop, which is a malfunction or other condition which requires human assistance to fix the machine.
The goal for a center is to maximize this value. A higher frames per stop leads to less work required for the pin chasers and mechanics as well as more satisfied customers who are not waiting for repairs.
A typical goal value for frames per stop is 1500 (150 lines) while well maintained pinsetters can run 2000 or more frames per stop. The busiest bowling centers can easily fit 100 lines (1000 frames) per day per lane.
Preventative maintenance can easily increase this value. There are many centers out there doing between 4 and even 5000 FPS because of many innovations, modifications that mechanics have come up with throughout the years, that have been came up with to retro fit onto older Pinsetters of either brand. Many of these innovations have turned into aftermarket parts that many good mechanics prefer to buy for these reasons. These altercations have boosted performance and overall labor spent on these machines to keep them running efficiently. Pin off spots (pins sliding off spot to a certain range when the ball hits them) and setup calls caused by late pin falls or a pin that stood back up at the right time can cause these kinds of stops. These particular stops are not Pinsetter malfunction stops, those are usually accounted for in overall frames per stop. Newer AMF machines have used the overall basic mechanics since they were originally introduced in the late 1940s. The newer brunswick design of modern Pinsetters has been changed in the mid 1980s. Newer high tech scoring systems and properly setup lane machines also play a big factor in overall Pinsetter frames per stop.
It is trickier to determine frames per stop on string pinsetters (used in five pin and rubberband duckpin) as some mechanics will consider a string entanglement as a stop. String entanglement is very unpredictable and is often a function of the bowling skill level of those currently bowling. This is one big down fall to string machines verses free fall. Entanglement usually happens more frequently during league than during public bowling.