Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE) is a measure of the operational productivity in your organization. Think of it as the Olympic standard for quality control — the only true way to know whether you and your machines are operating to the highest standard. 

Not all manufacturers use OEE as a way to measure productivity in their organization, and this is a shame. Incorporate this metric into your business and you can increase safety, improve compliance, and boost operational efficiencies. 

How Do You Measure OEE?

You can measure OEE by identifying the amount of manufacturing time in your organization that is truly “effective.” Usually, OEE provides you with a percentage score. If you generate a 100 percent score, for example, you can say that you have achieved the highest level of operational efficiency. 

If you score between 50-100 percent, you will need to make some improvements to your production processes. Score lower than that, and it could be time to rethink the way you manufacture your products. 

Why is OEE Useful?

OEE provides you with accurate insights into the availability, performance, loading, and quality of manufacturing units like machines and computers. 

The OEE calculation takes into account various factors that could impact the effectiveness of your machinery, such as production bottlenecks, downtime, minor stops, rejects, and more. You can then use this information to improve production processes and plan scheduled maintenance throughout the year. 

Why You Should Use Software

Sure, you could try to calculate OEE manually. However, this will be complicated, and there are other tasks that you will want to focus on in your business. 

Instead, use the latest manufacturing software to automate this calculation and generate valuable insights into your production processes.

A manufacturing execution system, in particular, will calculate OEE on a regular basis, so you can concentrate on other aspects of your business instead. Combine OEE with other metrics for a fully 360-degree overview of your manufacturing business which will set you apart from your competitors.

Looking for a manufacturing execution system that incorporates OEE for greater manufacturing insights? Prodsmart is a cloud-based platform that lets you visualize the latest data about machinery, materials, workers, and all the tasks in your workflows. You can click here to find out more.