6 things OEE is NOT!

While OEE has been receiving much deserved attention as manufacturers look for ways to improve their bottom line, it is not the cure for all that ails manufacturing.  Many in the manufacturing community seem to be getting caught up in the buzz and hype of OEE and its profound ability to improve the bottom line. 1.  OEE is NOT magic As we were […]

How to use the 5 WHY approach

The 5 WHY technique, developed by Sakichi Toyoda, is one of the core problem solving tools used by Toyota Motor Corporation and has been adopted and embraced by numerous companies all over the globe.  This technique is unconstrained, providing the team with a high degree of freedom in their thinking process. As we suggested in our “How to Improve OEE” […]

How to Improve OEE – Any Questions?

Ask any Quality or Engineering manager and they will tell you that measurement systems are valuable tools to identify problems and opportunities.  The measurement system itself is not the answer – it is the data source, the EVIDENCE that drives the questions.  It is a part of the discovery and validation process to confirm the opportunity or problem and the effectiveness of the solutions to resolve it. A well […]

OEE Integration – Where do We Measure OEE? – Part I

OEE Integration Part IX – Where do we measure OEE? Our recent posts have included numerous examples to calculate OEE correctly. We also discussed integration of OEE as an effective metric for managing your processes and ultimately how to analyze and use the data to improve your profitability.  We spent little time discussing where this measurement should occur.  OEE can […]

Availability and OEE

What is Availability? In its simplest form, availability measures the uptime of a machine or process against the planned production time.  As one of the factors of Overall Equipment Efficiency (OEE), Availability is expressed as a percentage.  The uptime is calculated by taking the difference between the planned production time and total duration of the downtime events that occurred during the planned production period. We […]

Problem Solving with OEE – Measuring Success

OEE in Perspective As mentioned in our previous posts, OEE is a terrific metric for measuring and monitoring ongoing performance in your operation.  However, like many metrics, it can become the focus rather than the gage of performance it is intended to be. The objective of measuring OEE is to identify opportunities where improvements can be made or to determine whether the changes to your […]

OEE for Multiple Parts – Single Machine (Multipart Processes)

How to Calculate OEE for Single Machine and Multiple Parts. Flexible manufacturing provides the advantage of producing many different parts on the same piece of equipment.  The same is true for processes such as stamping presses, molding machines, or machining operations. The first question most often asked is, “How do we calculate OEE for a piece of equipment that is capable of manufacturing multiple […]

OEE and Standardized Work

Overall Equipment Efficiency (OEE):  Standardized Work After you start collecting OEE data for your processes, you may notice significant variance between departments, shifts, and even employees performing the work.  Of the many aspects that you will be inclined to investigate, standardized work should be one of them. Making sure that all employees are executing a process or sequence of processes […]

LEAN Environment: Waste Management and OEE

In recent years much emphasis has been placed on the state of our environment and LEAN can help our cause.  If we consider just how much energy and resources are consumed due to inefficiency and waste.  OEE is a measure of how effectively time is used as a resource; however, it does not necessarily reflect the waste that is created in […]