OEE Integration – Part II

Training and Integration

Integrating OEE into your organization will take some time.  However, the benefits are definitely worth the effort.  Preparing an effective integration strategy will pay off dividends in the execution phase of your program and can serve as the core theme to launching many of your other lean manufacturing initiatives.

The challenge for many organizations is turning lean metrics, more specifically OEE, into part of the everyday language of the company.  The world of sports provides an excellent analogy to demonstrate how metrics are a necessary and integral part of the games we watch.  Baseball, football, basketball, hockey, cricket, and others all offer statistics or metrics that don’t necessarily determine the outcome of the game but certainly provide insight into the performance of the players and potential of the team.

While it may be a bit much to ask our employees to embrace lean performance metrics like OEE with the same energy and enthusiasm as they may have for sports, we can certainly encourage them by providing them with the education and training they need to better understand these metrics and why it is important to their future and the future of the company.

Defining the Need

It is imperative that you and your employees understand the need for an OEE system before even commencing with any physical implementation strategy.  It is even more critical to define and understand what is being measured and how the measurements will be used to improve your operation or processes.

To be effective, the team must have confidence and trust in the leadership coupled with a firm understanding of the practical intentions of the OEE system.  If employees perceive punitive intentions, you will most certainly lose.  How OEE data is used in your operation or processes will determine how successfully it can be integrated across the entire organization.

Understanding the rules of engagement is the key to making the metrics meaningful and effective.  Educating and training your team is at the very foundation of the lean journey.  Without it, the efforts are sure to fail.  Resistance to change is often fueled by lack of knowledge and understanding.

The VISE – Get the Commitment – Create the Charter

Vision:  We will manage in Real Time using metrics to measure our performance and effective use of capital and human resources;

Intelligence:  We will become students and teacher of our business, training and educating ourselves and each other;

Strategy:  We will develop effective, detailed plans to support our vision, goals, and objectives to be a viable, sustainable, and growing business enterprise;

Execute:  We will execute specific, detailed action plans in a timely and efficient manner, addressing all impediments to assure our success;

WHY:  to drive continual improvement, support our lean initiatives, and eliminate waste in our organization.

Using acronyms can be an effective way to communicate your expectations.  The VISE provides a strategic super-view that is easily embraced by any organization serious about their present and future business prospects.

More on this topic in tomorrow’s post.

Until next time – STAY lean!