How to Improve OEE?

What is OEE?

OEE, or Overall Equipment Effectiveness, is a standardized measurement parameter used in production operations to identify problems, determine the efficiency of various areas and percentages of production, and monitor business processes.

The OEE calculations, which are a crucial tool for Lean Manufacturing and TPM (Total Productive Maintenance), highlight significant production losses to recover hidden capacity within the production process.

Improving OEE thus translates into reducing production losses and enhancing production capacity.

To improve OEE in production, focus must be placed on three key factors: Availability, Performance, and Quality.

• Availability Factor: Represents downtime losses caused by machine or equipment breakdowns, setups, setup adjustments, and waiting times during production.
• Performance Factor: Represents losses due to short stops and reduced speed in production.
• Quality Factor: Represents defects, NOKs, rejections, and scrap, including rework in the production process.

Global factory targets that companies should strive for are defined based on practical experience. These targets are 90% for Availability, 95% for Performance, 99% for Quality, and 85% for OEE. Looking at these targets, the OEE values of facilities awarded the prestigious “Excellence in TPM” in Japan are consistently above 85%.

Today, many manufacturing companies have an OEE score close to 55%. However, among hundreds of manufacturing enterprises analyzed by ProManage, the number of those with an OEE score below 45% is higher than those with a score above 75%.

 

How to Improve OEE Values?

The first step in improving OEE values is the accurate analysis of data collected from machines and operators. Reducing human dependency in the production process and utilizing sensors and machines to read data enhance the accuracy of production data.

OEE improvement activities involve identifying and analyzing the root cause of problems and can be grouped as follows:

1. Firefighting: Immediate action must be taken to extinguish fires as they occur. The subsequent step involves working on how to prevent similar fires in the future. Real-time data in production assists businesses in identifying speed reduction issues in machines at the moment and taking immediate action, thus minimizing production losses.
2. Fire Prevention: At ProManage, Six Sigma projects or Kaizen practices are implemented to prevent fires before they occur. These practices aim to ensure excellence in production by defining, measuring, analyzing, improving, and controlling processes using statistical tools.

It is worth noting that activities for improving OEE values are not limited to firefighting (reactive maintenance) or fire prevention (proactive maintenance).

Perceptual and Systematic Improvements

OEE improvement activities can also be categorized as Perceptual and Systematic improvements:

• Perceptual Improvements: Based on the approach that “if you are aware of a problem, you can solve or improve it.” Most perceptual improvement ideas come from workers, are less likely to result in radical changes, and are therefore easier to implement. These small-scale operational improvements generally require less significant capital investment compared to major process changes.
• Systematic Improvements: These are driven by analyses and require detailed and reliable data to be effective.

 

Tools to Help Improve OEE

Reliable and real-time data is indispensable for improving OEE in production. The core system relies on automatically collecting data from machines in real-time.

By automating the data collection process, the core system eliminates human dependency in many manufacturing facilities where data is traditionally collected manually using forms. Manual data collection, often conducted at the end of a shift, leads to delays and inconsistencies in reports, making the data less actionable.

Automated, real-time data collection is essential for obtaining reliable data, enabling management to make informed decisions and consolidating all materials in one place.

ProManage MES/MOM systems allow for detailed and reliable analysis reports, enabling systematic improvements that help businesses uncover their potential. Proactive production approaches made possible by ProManage prevent “fires” before they occur.

Moreover, ProManage’s Andon/Dashboard solutions provide real-time visual data to support perceptual OEE improvements. These solutions create awareness among operators and shift supervisors, ensuring the entire facility focuses on the right areas.

Escalation Systems in Production

The escalation system used in factories enables the rapid resolution of issues, which is critical for OEE improvements. This system defines who will be informed and who will take action when conditions arise that prevent operations from continuing as per defined standards.

ProManage’s automatic escalation system visualizes problems such as speed reductions in machine operation in real-time, allowing businesses to take immediate action and minimize losses. Reducing response times through automation directly leads to decreased production losses and improved production capacity, ultimately enhancing OEE.