Benchmarking OEE

Benchmarking Systems:

We have learned that an industry standard or definition for Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE) has been adopted by the Semi Conductor Industry and also confirms our approach to calculating and using OEE and other related metrics.

The SEMI standards of interest are as follows:

• SEMI E10:  Definition and Measurement of Equipment Reliability, Availability, and Maintainability.
• SEMI E35:  Guide to Calculate Cost of Ownership Metrics.
• SEMI E58:  Reliability, Availability, and Maintainability Data Collection.
• SEMI E79:  Definition and Measurement of Equipment Productivity – OEE Metrics.
• SEMI E116:  Equipment Performance Tracking.
• SEMI E124:  Definition and Calculation of Overall Factory Efficiency and other Factory-Level Productivity Metrics.

It is important to continually learn and improve our understanding regarding the development and application of metrics used in industry.  It is often said that you can’t believe everything you read (especially – on the internet).  As such, we recommend researching these standards to determine their applicability for your business as well.

Benchmarking Processes:

Best practices and methods used within and outside of your specific industry may bring a fresh perspective into the definition and policies that are already be in place in your organization.  Just as processes are subject to continual improvement, so are the systems that control them.  Although many companies use benchmarking data to establish their own performance metrics, we strongly encourage benchmarking of best practices or methods – this is where the real learning begins.

World Class OEE is typically defined as 85% or better.  Additionally, to achieve this level of “World Class Peformance” the factors for Availability, Performance, and Quality must be at least 90%, 95%, and 99.5% respectively.  While this data may present your team with a challenge, it does little to inspire real action.

Understanding the policies and methods used to measure performance coupled with an awareness of current best practices to achieve the desired levels of  performance will certainly provide a foundation for innovation and improvement.  It is significant to note that today’s most efficient and successful companies have all achieved levels of performance above and beyond their competition by understanding and benchmarking their competitors best practices.  With this data, the same companies went on to develop innovative best practices to outperform them.

A Practical Example

Availablity is typically presented as the greatest opportunity for improvement.  This is even suggested by the “World Class” levels stated above.  Further investigation usually points us to setup / adjustment or change over as one of the primary improvement opportunities.  Many articles and books have been written on Single Minute Exchange of Dies and other Quick Tool Change strategy, so it is not our intent to present them here.  The point here is that industry has identified this specific topic as a significant opportunity and in turn has provided significant documentation and varied approaches to improve setup time.

In the case of improving die changes a variety of techniques are used including:

• Quick Locator Pins
• Pre-Staged Tools
• Rolling Bolsters
• Sub-Plates
• Programmable Controllers
• Standard Pass Heights
• Standard Shut Heights
• Quarter Turn Clamps
• Hydraulic Clamps
• Magnetic Bolsters
• Pre-Staged Material
• Dual Coil De-Reelers
• Scheduling Sequences
• Change Over Teams versus Individual Effort
• Standardized Changeover Procedures

As change over time becomes less of a factor for determining what parts to run and for how long, we can strive reduced inventories and improved preventive maintenance activities.

Today’s Challenge

The manufacturing community has been devastated by the recent economic downturn.  We are challenged to bring out the best of what we have while continuing to strive for process excellence in all facets of our business.

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Until Next Time – STAY Lean!