In the manufacturing industry, the overall equipment effectiveness (OEE) is a way to measure how efficient your manufacturing process is. It accounts for all three components of production: materials, labor and machinery. OEE software makes it easier to calculate an OEE score. This article will explore how improving OEE impacts your profits, as well as practical strategies for boosting your manufacturing efficiency by improving the overall equipment effectiveness in your facility.
What is OEE?
OEE is a metric that measures the overall efficiency of a manufacturing process. It can also be referred to as Overall Equipment Effectiveness or Overall Equipment Efficiency. In its most basic form, OEE is calculated by dividing two numbers: Availability and Performance (or Availability x Performance). Availability refers to how often your equipment is up and running; performance refers to how many units are produced during those periods when the equipment is in operation.
The exact formula for calculating OEE varies depending on which type of equipment you’re using–and there are several different types out there! But generally speaking, it looks something like this:
OEE = Availability x Performance x Quality. Availability is the percentage of time that your equipment is up and running, which can be expressed as a fraction (e.g., 0.8 = 80%). Performance refers to how many units are produced during those periods when the equipment is in operation (e.g., 10 units per hour).
OEE and Manufacturing
OEE is a measure of how well a process is performing. It’s calculated by dividing the number of good parts produced by the total number of parts attempted, and it can be used to track a variety of metrics in your manufacturing environment. For example, if you’re producing parts that need manual inspection at the end of each production line and one out every four rejects make it through without being noticed, then your OEE could be as low as 25%.
Efficiency isn’t just about avoiding waste–it’s also about improving quality while reducing costs. When you improve efficiency in one aspect (cost), it may affect another aspect (quality). If this happens enough times over time, then your overall production rate goes down even though there hasn’t been any change in either speed or quality control procedures!
Why Analyze OEE?
OEE is a key measure of the productivity and efficiency of your manufacturing operations. It’s also an important indicator of the health of your business, because it tells you whether you’re making money or losing money on every product that leaves your factory floor.
The benefits of analyzing OEE include:
- Identifying opportunities to improve productivity and profitability by reducing waste, improving quality, speeding up processes and reducing downtime. In other words: saving time and money!
- Improving safety by identifying and eliminating hazards in the workplace. Improving quality by identifying defects and taking steps to eliminate them. Improving customer service by ensuring that your factory is producing products of consistent qualityImproving the bottom line by helping you to identify inefficiencies and eliminate them, which will ultimately lead to increased profits..
How to Calculate OEE
OEE is a composite metric that can be calculated for an entire plant, a particular process or machine, or even for an individual part. To calculate OEE:
- Calculate Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE) by dividing availability by performance. Availability is the percentage of time your equipment is working properly and available for production use; performance is the amount of production you get out of each hour it’s running. This gives you two percentages: availability and performance.
- Divide these two values by 100 to get three numbers: Availability divided by Performance equals Availability; Availability divided by Availability plus Performance equals Performance; finally, Subtracting 1 from 2 equals OEE (or “Overall Equipment Effectiveness”).
Establishing Basic OEE
OEE is a measure of the efficiency of your operations. It’s a number that can be used to make better decisions about how you run your business and make sure it stays healthy.
OEE is important because it helps you understand how well your production line is functioning, so that you can identify areas for improvement and make changes accordingly. For example, if an employee calls in sick one day and another employee has to pick up their workload, this will have an impact on OEE because there are now two people doing one person’s job–and both workers’ productivity levels have dropped as a result (even though only one person was actually sick).
The goal with any manufacturing process should always be 100% uptime; however this isn’t always possible due to factors outside of our control such as human error or machinery failure which may cause downtime during which there are no products being produced at all!
Improving Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE) in Manufacturing
OEE is a metric that can be used to measure the efficiency of a manufacturing process. It’s calculated by dividing the total time a machine is in operation by its maximum possible uptime, and it provides insight into how well your facility is performing overall. OEE can be used to identify opportunities for improvement, but it’s important to note that this isn’t an absolute value: It will fluctuate depending on what stage of production you’re working on at any given moment.
For example, if you have some machines running at full capacity while others are idle due to bottlenecks or other issues–and if these idle machines aren’t producing during their downtime–then your overall OEE would be low even though each individual machine may still be operating at 100%.
Improving Maintenance Activities That Affect OEE Scores
While there are many ways to increase OEE, this section focuses on those activities that fall under the maintenance umbrella. Maintenance is a critical component of any manufacturing operation, but it can sometimes be overlooked or taken for granted by employees and management alike. When it comes to boosting efficiency, however, maintenance plays an important role in reducing downtime and keeping machines running smoothly.
To improve your facility’s OEE score:
- Ensure preventive maintenance is performed properly (e.g., preventative maintenance programs)
- Plan for scheduled downtime during routine repairs or replacements (e.g., maintenance planning)
- Manage the timing of unscheduled outages so they don’t affect productivity (e.g., scheduling)
- Schedule preventative checkups based on usage patterns rather than simply following a predetermined schedule (e.g., scheduling)
- Track all equipment health indicators so you know when something needs attention before it becomes critical (“monitoring”).
Prioritize Process Improvement Programs That Boost OEE Scores
Improving OEE scores starts with a process improvement program that focuses on improving the efficiency of your equipment, the quality of your product, the accuracy of your processes and more.
- Improve The Efficiency Of Your Equipment: If technology is an asset to your business then it should be treated as such; this means optimizing its performance by making sure it’s working at maximum capacity. This can be achieved through regular maintenance checks as well as replacing worn out parts before they become a problem for production lines.
- Improve The Quality Of Your Product: Achieving higher levels of quality within manufacturing environments will help boost OEE scores because it reduces defects which means less wasted materials or time spent fixing them later down the line (which may also lead towards increased costs). When implementing new methods like Six Sigma techniques into production lines employees will learn better ways to complete tasks using fewer mistakes along with improved efficiency levels overall which leads us onto our next point…
Use OEE Software
OEE software can be a powerful tool for monitoring your OEE score and identifying areas for improvement. By tracking your OEE on a regular basis, you can quickly identify when things are going well and when they aren’t, allowing you to make changes before they become serious problems.
OEE software also allows you to analyze the data collected from multiple machines over time, which is essential if you want to make sure that all of your equipment is running at peak efficiency. This will help prevent any one machine from dragging down your overall efficiency scores by being inefficient on its own; instead, it gives each piece of equipment an equal chance at improving its performance over time (or not).
Finally, OEE software makes it easy for managers and employees alike who want or need to access their company’s data about manufacturing operations through mobile devices like smartphones or tablets–no matter where they happen upon something interesting!
It Is Important to Improve OEE Score
Improving the OEE score is a multi-step process. The first step is to improve your equipment and maintenance. You can do this by prioritizing improvement programs, using OEE software and improving your processes so that they are more efficient.
The second step involves identifying any bottlenecks in your manufacturing process and addressing them immediately to increase throughput while maintaining quality standards. This can be done through careful planning of new projects, reallocation of resources or hiring additional employees if necessary.
Finally, it’s important for companies with high OEE scores not to rest on their laurels but continue striving towards greater efficiency gains so that they stay competitive in today’s increasingly demanding marketplace!
Conclusion
In conclusion, OEE is a powerful tool for measuring manufacturing operations and improving efficiency. It gives you a clear view of how well your machines are working and helps prioritize improvement efforts so that you don’t waste time on projects that won’t make much difference in your bottom line.