THE PROBLEM

The first OEE number you calculate is always wrong

Almost every plant that starts measuring OEE gets a number that flatters it. Short stops go uncounted because nobody logged them. Performance is measured against a rate that was never realistic. Quality is assumed rather than measured. The result is a figure that looks respectable, cannot be compared with anyone else's, and does not move when things genuinely improve. An OEE number is only useful if its three components are measured honestly and separately — because that is what tells you which of the three is actually costing you.

Measured properly, component by component

Availability, measured not estimated

Run time and stop time captured automatically from the machine, including the short stops that manual logging always misses and that often account for most of the loss.

Performance against a real rate

Actual output compared with what the machine should have produced in the time it was running, using a rate grounded in the process rather than an optimistic nameplate figure.

Quality from measurement

The quality component derived from measured results against specification, not assumed to be a constant.

Per machine and per line

OEE for every machine individually and aggregated by line, so the plant figure can always be decomposed into the machines that produced it.

Trends over time

Performance tracked across days, weeks and months, so improvement can be demonstrated and drift can be spotted before it becomes normal.

One definition, every machine

The same calculation applied consistently everywhere, which is what makes comparison between machines, lines and — for a group — between plants meaningful.

How it works

1

Define what good looks like

We agree the target rate, what counts as planned versus unplanned downtime, and how quality is measured. This is the part that determines whether the number is trustworthy.

2

Collect the components separately

Availability, performance and quality data are captured independently from the machines and quality records, rather than being inferred from one another.

3

Report at every level

A single OEE figure for management, the three components for engineers, and the underlying stops and measurements for whoever needs to act.

Technical detail

Availability comes from machine state captured by the acquisition layer, performance from counted output against the agreed rate over actual run time, and quality from measured results against specification. Each component is stored separately so the aggregate can always be decomposed and audited. Calculation periods, shift boundaries and downtime classification rules are configured per plant.

TALK TO AN ENGINEER

GET AN OEE NUMBER YOU CAN TRUST

Tell us how OEE is calculated in your plant today. We will tell you honestly what it is probably missing.