Overall Equipment Effectiveness
Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE) is lean methodology that can provide benefits to a business in a number of key areas including increasing output and improved labour utilization.
However as energy costs are rising many businesses are utilizing OEE as a means to ensure their operations are energy efficient as an additional benefit of OEE.
OEE takes the most common sources of manufacturing productivity losses and provides an accurate assessment of the performance of the manufacturing process. OEE is calculated utilizing 3 variables; the actual time equipment is available for use measured against the planned time, the actual production output measured against the target output and the quantity produced right first time. Once a baseline is established improvement initiatives can be planned and implemented. Many organizations are now using OEE as a measure of the manufacturing process prior to purchasing additional equipment or hiring additional staff to ensure an adequate return on investment.
OEE highlights the impact of issues such as unplanned stoppages, slow running equipment, high reject rates. All of these impact not only the performance of the manufacturing process but also the energy efficiency of the process. A useful metric that can be developed is the energy cost per unit of product produced from this the OEE lean tool can be used to complete the required improvement activities.
We will be presenting on the topic of OEE and energy efficiency at the Energy forum on the 14th May hosted by Procad Engineering- link here to the event website.
