SafetyChain Blog

What is Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE), and what can it do for your operation? Many manufacturers understand OEE as a critical operational measurement, but few know how to properly assess OEE in a manner that stimulates continuous improvement. This blog identifies areas where OEE is often overlooked or mis-leveraged.

All equipment fails at some point if it’s not properly maintained. That’s why daily production schedules rely on maintenance that is precisely timed. Typical maintenance programs have waste and unnecessary downtime. Predictive maintenance is a new approach that can increase operational reliability with or without new technology.

SafetyChain is proud to have been named a top OEE software product by Capterra, a free online service that helps organizations find the right software for their operations. 

There is every sign that competition will continue to put the squeeze on manufacturers, even while demands for quality products and faster processes increase. Raw material costs are also rising, and manufacturers are searching for every possible way to weather increasing uncertainty and generate profit. And as it turns out, the answers to the question of how to survive in an ultra-competitive global market might lie a lot closer to home than many realize.

Overall equipment effectiveness (OEE) is a critical metric for manufacturing plants to track. With proper, consistent measurement, this metric allows plant managers to track the overall performance of their facilities and determine the root cause behind line interruptions, unplanned downtime, quality rejections, and equipment problems. This root cause analysis saves manufacturing teams significant time and effort. Smart and sophisticated trend analysis through OEE software can uncover what might take weeks to diagnose. Here’s what you need to know about deploying this powerful solution in your plant.

Since the 1970s, an increasing number of manufacturers have used the three components of availability, performance, and quality to calculate the overall equipment effectiveness (OEE) for determining how well a process is running. OEE is also used to identify areas of improvement. Understandably, most manufacturers target the more prominent areas of concern, which will generate a more dramatic or marked improvement. 

Although many manufacturers have implemented overall equipment effectiveness (OEE) over the last few decades, not every facility has embraced it effectively. Often facilities either knowingly or unknowingly neglect or overemphasize one of the three essential components of OEE. Manufacturers apply OEE inconsistently, include too much, or exclude unpleasant data. When used correctly, OEE is an excellent resource for driving continuous improvement in manufacturing facilities. Facilities that are struggling to meet goals or seeking to move up a few extra percentage points can gain the edge they need by returning to basics and evaluating processes honestly.

Translating Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE) into financial terms allows everyone from the plant floor operators to executives, measure continuous improvement and understand the business value of OEE. The challenge is making this a reality. This blog will dive into what it means to measure OEE, why you should translate that into financial terms, why OEE is important, and finally what role software plays.

Many plants are looking for ways to create more efficient processes and develop strategies to better compete with others in the industry. For many, this desire to improve means moving away from traditional manufacturing. It can be a little uncomfortable to look for ways to change when things seem to be working just fine already. However, sticking with processes because “that’s the way we’ve always done them” can work against driving continuous improvement. That’s where implementing OEE comes in.