Tips for getting the most out of OEE

The OEE performance indicator works particularly well for discreet manufacturing processes, where it is used to measure equipment efficiency.

Equipment stops, product swaps and setup should be included in your planned production time (and thus, be part of the OEE calculation). In general, any time that can be used in value added production, should be included in the OEE. This will ensure that all losses are being monitored and the equipment´s real capacity is being considered.

OEE should be part of a balanced approach to improving productivity. Focusing on the indicator alone, could lead teams to produce more than the actual demand (leading to overstocking), to operating equipment beyond its nominal parameters (potentially leading to security issues), an excessive number of employees (reducing individual work productivity) and other counter-productive behaviors.

Once the basic OEE score for an equipment has been established, monitoring the KPI over time will provide and objective metric for evaluating how much progress has been made in improving manufacturing productivity.

Taking advantage of OEE, means improving through the use of tools that are suited for dealing with each type of loss. For example, TOP LOSSES and SMED are very efficient for combating availability losses. SHORT INTERVAL CONTROL, is very effective for… TEXT IS CUTOFF.