OEE drives improvements in manufacturing effectiveness and efficiency. By monitoring and addressing it, lost production time and efficiency can be turned into found profits. Many companies who recognize the importance of OEE have yet to realize bottom line improvements by effectively implementing it.

With the growing popularity of browser-based manufacturing software, it is now easier than ever before. Equipment downtime and speed,as well as quality data can be easily monitored, recorded and reported to allow management to effectively address the areas which need improvement. An accurate picture of OEE can also help companies make appropriate equipment purchasing decisions. Efficiency losses typically come from equipment availability, performance rate and quality rate. Typical losses include:

Availability • Planned downtime • Set up time • Unplanned recorded downtime or breakdowns Performance Rate • Reduced speed • Minor unrecorded stoppages Quality Rate • Rejects • Rework • Yield and start up losses

American manufacturers can become leaner and improve bottom line profits by paying more attention to improving equipment productivity. It can help them to compete with overseas manufacturing. OEE software is a great tool to help manufacturers improve production efficiencies. Configurable browser-based applications are the ultimate solution for collecting and reporting on the production data, due to a number of advantages.

Scalability. They can be used at any size plant and multiple plants with anywhere access. Real time availability. Data is gathered and summarized in real time. Integration. The data can be integrated with almost any data source. Export data to other systems. These systems can export data for use in other enterprise-wide systems. Quick implemenation. Browser-based applications require no installation process at individual computer work stations.

These browser-based applications allow for much more flexibility, lower cost of owership and a shorter time to implementation that than their old legacy system counterparts. For more articles and information on OEE, visit OEE Software Today.