Everything You Need To Know About OEE- Overall Equipment Effectiveness

Productivity is critical in the world of manufacturing. This goes beyond producing “x” amount of units daily. It is understanding the efficiency of an equipment. Hence, your goal is to optimize for maximum potential and optimal performance. 

OEE taps into making the best use of resources available. It is the ability to meet up with production targets at the allowed time. OEE reveals the activities on the manufacturing machinery, spots problems on time, and maximizes the potential of your equipment. 

It's an effective tracker used in achieving manufacturing goals. OEE gives insights into your production process and how to make the best of your factory performance. This article covers all you need to know about OEE, its key components, and its importance to your manufacturing process.

What is OEE (Overall Equipment Effectiveness)?

OEE is a metric used in evaluating manufacturing processes by measuring an equipment’s productivity and efficiency. It takes into consideration the availability of an equipment, its performance, and the quality of its output. Most companies use it to track their performance, inspect the effectiveness of machines, and identify significant areas for improvement. 

There is a formula used to measure OEE, and it's derived by:OEE = Availability x Performance x Quality

What are the three essential components of OEE?

1. Availability

Availability measures the actual time of production to the budgeted time of production. There are various factors that affect equipment availability and this is taken into consideration in decision making. These factors include equipment failure, changeover, preventive maintenance, etc. All these issues can cause downtime in machine operation and affect the performance of machinery. What OEE does is assess and pinpoint issues that cause unplanned downtime by looking at the data analysis and providing insights to improve machine performance. With this information, factory managers are armed with the knowledge on how to curb this on time.

2. Performance

Component two studies how well the equipment is performing. It checks to see if an equipment is being over utilized or underutilized. If availability is about the effectiveness of an equipment, performance looks at the actual amount it produces. In a production flow, there are different cycles. With each cycle, there are different factors that can cause a glitch in output. With real-time data, managers can discover what causes machinery stops during production or why there is a sudden increase in energy consumption. OEE reveals the maximum potential of equipment in terms of performance, speed, and efficiency. It also highlights causes of interruptions and slow cycle times. With this information, managers and staff can put in certain structures to optimize for better performance. 

3. Quality 

This component observes the nature of the output produced. Quality evaluates if the units produced were able to meet factory standards. OEE helps manufacturers to identify issues that cause production waste and eliminate them on time. OEE serves as the benchmark for creating clear policies to standardize manufacturing workflow. It also improves the business's financial health by ensuring cost control and profitability. In assessing quality, OEE accurately accounts for product defects and ensures workers meet the highest standards. This gives the business an edge over competitors. 

Importance of OEE to the manufacturing process

1. Optimizes product to meet the highest level of quality 

OEE is the best metric for finding significant areas of improvement. It tracks the activities on your equipment, and with the insights gotten from the data, highlights issues that can be an obstacle in the workflow. With this information, managers can optimize for excellence. Also, issues like equipment breakdown, preventive maintenance, etc., can be spotted earlier, and workers can perform at peak level. 

2. Cost-saving approach for manufacturers

Utilizing OEE saves manufacturers time, resources, and energy. Production is hedged on creating output at lesser cost, but sometimes this is not achieved because of unforeseen emergencies. OEE saves managers time and resources by tracking operations and promotes lean manufacturing. Through real-time data, it follows the pace at which equipment runs and provides managers with the information needed to take action to prevent losses.

3. Provides an edge over competitors 

OEE differentiates the company from other competitors with its product quality. It's an effective strategy that leans towards automation and the use of technological devices to increase productivity and efficiency. The production process is monitored, and producers are able to provide high-quality goods at affordable costs. This, in return, attracts customers to the business and increases business growth.

4. Creates room for growth and innovation 

OEE provides room for continuous improvement. It creates a standard that managers use to track their progress and efficiency. It studies current performance and identifies best practices to encourage innovation. Suppose you have a sugar factory. Prior to OEE, the productivity and efficiency of the equipment being used was at 70%. The equipment productivity increases to 90% after OEE is implemented, specific problems that are causing delays are identified, and preventive actions are created to stop them. This is why it is important to business growth and innovation.

5. Increases capacity and profitability

It's an avenue for attaining optimum excellence. OEE enhances factory capacity with respect to production and performance. The quality that the company gives would be different from other competitors. Internally, workers would be pushed to improve on their skills and produce the best in terms of output. This, in return translates to customer satisfaction and increased profits for the business.

Conclusion 

OEE is what you need to stay ahead of the competitive curve. It provides insights into your equipment efficiency and how it affects your manufacturing process. This helps you to identify issues that are causing downtimes and take preventive steps to curb it on time.All you need to know about OEE has been highlighted in this article. With this information, you can identify significant areas for improvement and cause growth and innovation in your business.