Overall Equipment Effectiveness is a tremendous tool for comparing performance of a work center between shifts, machine to machine, or location to location. It does a great job of accommodating various rates and showing the impact of changeovers, equipment downtime and scrap. It asks the question; Is the equipment available to make the product at the correct rate and to the customer specification all in one ratio?
The calculation is:
It is a great measure at a plant or total process level.
The problem is when it is measured at the process itself.
The problem is….
There is no OEE knob
If an operator is given a printed copy of an OEE chart every day, it is hard for them to understand what to do. What action should they take if the OEE is low?
It could be low because; the rate was not the standard rate, the product was scrapped, the equipment was not available to run.
When measuring OEE at a workstation it makes more sense to break it into the three components. At the workstation, you want to measure available time (OA), scrap generated and actual production rate versus the standard rate. These measures will lead to actions that need to be taken to improve the overall effectiveness of the equipment.
These metrics will tell your operators what knob to turn!!
Help your organization see the value of OEE at the correct level but measure what matters at the workstation.
Learn more in Patrick’s book, “Facilitating Effective Change,” available online through Amazon and Barnes & Noble. He is also the founder of UTV Advisors, a business consulting firm based in Pittsburgh, PA.
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