What is OEE?

OEE stands for Overall Equipment Effectiveness. OEE reduces difficult and complex production issues in to readable, well-presented and usable information. Its measurement helps to improve your processes in a step by step way. It can be used to monitor best practises on machines, assembly lines and manufacturing cells. It is a simple and practical tool that helps you to gauge where you are and how you can move forward and make your production more efficient and effective. Let’s take a look at some of things that are considered as a part of the OEE process.

Planned production time: To help find your planned production time you will need to know this equation; Plant operating time – Planned shut down time = Planned production time. Planned shut down time is all the planned breaks such as lunch hours and maintenance time etc. These all need to be left out of the productivity analysis. OEE will carefully look at your planned production time and measure and record overall efficiency and losses with a view to your being able to eradicate these losses once they have been recognised.

Down time loss: Down time loss is considered to be anything that stops production for a period of time such as machine failure, shortages of required materials and changeovers. Changeover time can usually always be reduced in most instances.

Performance: The performance category covers any factors that may cause your machinery not to operate at its maximum speed or capacity when running. It should bring to light any operator ineffectiveness, machine wear and tear as well as use of poor quality materials.

Quality: OEE will also take any quality loss issues in to consideration. This means that it will identify when produce does not meet the required standard and has to be re-made or changed.
Once all these, plus lots of other contributing factors are taken in to consideration you will be left with a measurement of “Fully Productive Time”.

This is the time your machines are fully operational, working to their full efficiency and are producing the desired result. The main aim of OEE is to help you maximise and increase you fully productive time. There is usually always room for improvement in most manufacturing plants. Once you overall equipment effectiveness has been measured you can then see where you stand in the “World Class OEE”.

Studies indicate that the average manufacturing rate of most plants is around 60%. A world class overall equipment effectiveness measurement is considered to be anything above 85%. As previously mentioned many plants and production lines have a lot of room for improvement!