OEE (Overall Equipment Effectiveness) evaluates the efficiency of a manufacturer’s machines while considering business operations, processes, and overall productivity. Identifying your business’s underperforming assets is the first step towards resolving any issues that affect them.
Manufacturing with OEE lets you measure how specific equipment performs so you can analyze any losses and implement remedial steps.
There are three major factors that determine the efficiency of a piece of equipment during its manufacturing process. These are namely the asset availability (the percentage of times it works effectively when needed), its performance (how much product the equipment produces), and production quality (number of top-quality products the equipment produces).
A perfect score of 100% means your manufacturing machines and process is efficient and your business is producing quality products with no defects, within record time, and with zero downtime or waste.
Best Practices for OEE Optimization
Nominate a Project / Digital Leader
Implementing OEE is not always an easy task. This can be because of the human tendency to resist change or because of errors in OEE calculations.
Assign and hold accountable a project champion who has excellent communication and analytical skills. This person will be instrumental in implementing new processes and resolving inherent issues.
Eliminate Manual Collection and Reporting of Production Data
Automation and affordable technology has solved many business problems. Manual data collection is an extremely time-consuming process — it is prone to errors and highly unproductive. Insufficient collection of data is a detriment to improved levels of OEE. Automation of data collection will ensure timely rectification of issues.
Ensure Real-Time Information Visibility
Real-time visibility of data helps with quick remediation of productivity issues on the shop floor. It also facilitates quicker interpretation of complex information and increased levels of engagement by the entire team.
Make a Habit of Commenting on Every Production Stop
In order to eliminate production downtime, make sure there are constructive comments at every single production stop. This should include comments by supervisors as well as operatives. Communication during unplanned production stops can turn downtime into productive time.
Hold Daily Interdepartmental Review Meetings
You can optimize OEE by fostering a strong level of communication across the production process. This leads to quicker problem resolution and enables you to put high-quality remediation measures in place.
Get Rid of the Six Big Losses of Your Business
If you’re looking for a standard to improve your production processes, the elimination of six big losses is a sure winner. These six losses align well with OEE and include planned stops, unplanned stops, slow cycles, small stops, start-up defects, and production defects.
Understanding the reasons for and the amount of these losses can help you determine where to concentrate your efforts to improve productivity. Unplanned downtime is probably the first loss you should look at. This could involve equipment breakdowns and poor logistics. These can easily disrupt the full production process and make it come to a grinding halt.
Use Root Cause Analysis
Manufacturing with OEE measurements can help you develop a reliable problem-solving process over time. True to its name, Root Cause Analysis (RCA) helps analyze and solve the root cause of a problem and not just its symptoms.
This allows you to eliminate the issue rather than apply a temporary balm. It ultimately ensures optimization of the entire production process.
Are you ready to learn more about manufacturing with OEE? Sign up for a free Demo at VersaCall.