Contingency Planning For Lean Operations (II)

Contingency Planning For Lean Operations – Part II

Putting together a contingency plan can be quite challenging when you consider all the things that could go wrong at any given point in time.  Contingency plans should not only be restricted to ”things gone wrong” and are not limited to operations or process specific events.  All aspects of an operation are prone to risk.  As such, contingency planning must be an enterprise wide activity.

Failing to understand and assess the risks that may impact your operation is a recipe for future failure.  If you fail to plan then plan to fail.  The same is true for contingency plans.  Effective risk management and contingency planning are critical to minimize or eliminate the effects of failure.

Natural disasters (like we’ve never seen before) continue to plague us without prediction.  Yet, we are able to respond immediately and effectively.  If you get hurt or injured, someone is there to help you simply by dialing 911.  Emergency units are ever present and available to respond.

Unfortunately the same is not necessarily true for business.  The recent turn in the economy caused financial markets to tumble and decimated corporations on every scale.  Millions of people are affected by the fallout.  The government “loans” were not crafted after the event.  Did contingency plans exist to even consider this level of change in the economy?

Although history may be the best predictor of future events, it is not exclusive or exhaustive to predicting unforeseen future events.  Even if history did provide a glimpse of potential future failures, we may simply choose to ignore the probability of recurrence – this isn’t the first time the financial markets have crashed, yet we can’t seem to determine or understand what key indicators existed that could have prevented this current situation.

Certainly new variables are introduced as technologies continue to evolve and become more integral in our operations.

In Part I of this series we suggested that contingency plans should be prepared to address potential labour challenges and more specifically availability.  Certainly, the recent concerns regarding the H1N1 virus have heightened attention with respect to labour shortages.

• Inclement Weather – Immediate effects of Snow Storm, Hurricane, Heavy Rain, Tornado.
  • Other considerations include:
    • Duration
    • Seasons
    • Cumulative Severity
    • Delayed Effects (flooding)
    • Property Damage.
• Accident / Injury:  Personal versus Workplace
  • Long Term
  • Short term
  • Considerations to reduce or minimize impact to operations:
    • Early Return To Work
    • Modified Duty
    • Restricted Duty
    • Reduced Hours
• Illness (Personal / Family / Extended Family)
  • Short Term
    • (Flu, Cold)
    • Emergency
  • Long Term
    • Surgical Care
    • Chronic Care
• Sudden Premature Death
• Parental Leave (Maternity Leave)
• Bereavement – Immediate Family, Out of Country
• Retirement / Attrition
• Training
  • Onsite vs Offsite
  • Duration
• Meetings – Department
  • Company Wide
  • On Site
  • Customer Site
• Quality Disruption
  • Containment Activity
    • Sorting
    • Rework
• Travel
• Vacation Allowance / Timing
  • Customer Driven
  • Company Mandated
  • Personal Choice
  • Season
  • Duration
    • New Hires – Zero Weeks
    • Senior Employees – Per “X” Years of Service
• Holidays
• Absenteeism (Culpable)
• Layoff and Recall
  • Short Term
  • Long Term
• Supply Chain Disruptions – Raw Material or Part Supply
• Planned Shutdown / Start Up Events – Holidays
• Leave of Absence – Short Term / Long Term
• Facilities
  • Loss of Utilities:  Water, Electricity
  • Fire, Suspended Services
  • Parking Availability
  • Locker Space
• Equipment – Breakdown / Malfunction (Major)
• Tooling – Breakdown  / Malfunction (Major)
• Skill Levels Required – Non-Skilled, Semi-Skilled, and Skilled Labour
•  Union – Strike
• Customer Decreases
  • Shutdown (Reduced Volume)
  • Slow Down (Reduced Volume)
  • Reduced Work Week (4 vs. 5 days)
  • Shutdown (Planned)
• Customer Increases:
  • Volume
  • Extended Work Days (Daily Overtime)
  • Extended Work Week (Saturday)

There are likely more areas of concern that may impact your labour pool, however, this does serve as a starting point.  Do all of the above elements require a contingency plan?  Not necessarily.  We still contend that it is good practice to document all potential concerns.  It is easier to add a note to document the reason for exclusion from the contingency plan by stating:

• The following elements were discussed during the preparation of this plan, however, specific contingency plans were not considered necessary at the time of review:
  • Training – Scheduled Activity
  • Culpable Absenteeism – Progressive Discipline Program
  • Add Elements to the List as applicable

This latter task may seem somewhat trivial, but consider who else may be reading the report.  Defining the scope of the contingency plan and adding a list of exclusions supported with reason(s) clarifies any ommissions from the core plan, will minimize the time required for review, and eliminates any assumptions regarding unintended ommisions.

Our next post will address the elements to be considered when developing a contingency plan.

Until Next Time – STAY Lean!

Contingency Planning For Lean Operations – Part I

Contingency Planning For Lean Operations – Part I

Lean operations are driven by effective planning and efficient execution of core activities to ensure optimal performance is achieved and sustained.  The very nature of lean requires extreme attention to detail through all phases of planning and execution.  Upstream operations simply cannot tolerate any disruptions in product supply or process flow without the risk of incurring significant downtime costs or other related losses.

Effective risk management methods, contingency plans, and loss prevention strategy are critical components of successful operations management in a lean operation.  Risk management and preventing disruptions is the subject of contingency planning and requires the participation of all team members.

Successful contingency planning assures the establishment of an effective communication strategy and identification of core activities and actions required.  Contingency plans may require alternative methods, processes, systems, sources, or services and must be verified, validated, and tested prior to implementation.

Understanding and assessing the potential risks to your operation is the basis for contingency planning with the objective to minimize or eliminate potential losses.

Inventory represents the most basic form of contingency planning.  Safety stock or buffer inventories are typically used to minimize the effects of equipment downtime or disruptions in the supply chain. 

The levels of inventory to maintain are dependent on a number factors including Lead Time, Value, Carrying Cost, Transit Time (Distance), Shelf Life, Minimum Order Quantities, Payment Terms, and Obsolescence.

Why is this relevant?

Material and Labour represent two key resources that may be influenced by external factors that are beyond the control of any company policy or practice.  Internally controlled or managed resources such facilities, equipment, and tooling are less susceptible to unknown elements.  For the purposes of this discussion, we will examine Labour in a little more detail.

The H1N1 virus, originally known as the Swine Flu, is the latest potential health pandemic since the outbreak of SARS only a few years ago.  The government has been struggling to organize mass immunization clinics and to engage the media to aid in the cause.  In the meantime, the potential impact of the H1N1 virus on your operation remains to be an unknown. 

Experts have commented to the media that the lessons from the SARS outbreak have still not been learned.  One would expect that past practices would have already been adopted into new best practices from our experiences with other similar events in our history.

Government agencies at all levels (Federal, Provincial, and local) have mismanaged the activities required to procure and distribute the vaccine, and failed to provide an effective communication and immunization strategy to ensure the risk to public health was minimized and the at the very least understood.

The lack of coordination and accountability for the success or failure of the communication strategy, procurement and distribution of the vaccine, and other related activities are strong indicators that the planning process did not consider the infrastructure requirements and relationships needed between levels of government.

The lack of an effective communication strategy introduced confusion and speculation in the media and the general public.  Mass education only seemed to become more aggressive as incidents of severe H1N1 complications and related deaths were reported in the media.

If this really was a pandemic event, many operations today would (and may still) be adversely affected due to direct or indirect (supply chain) labour shortages.  Do you have contingency plans in place to address this concern?

It could be argued that “if we are affected to this extent, then our customers will be as well.”  This is not necessarily true unless your customers and / or suppliers are located in the same immediate area or region of your business.

People travel all the time, whether they are commuting to work from out-of-town or traveling to or arriving from a foreign country on business.  The source of exposure is beyond your immediate control. 

What other elements can directly impact labour?  We will explore some of these in our next post.  In the meantime, keep your hands washed and remember to cough into your sleeve.

Until Next Time – STAY Lean!

Unexpected and Appreciated – Uncommon Courtesy:  This morning, a person cut into the drive through lane ahead of us – not realizing the gap in the line was there for thru traffic.  Recognizing the error in drive through etiquette and to make amends, we were pleasantly surprised by the ”free” coffee at the pick up window.  Thank you ladies!

Going DEEP with OEE

Does anyone actually look at their daily equipment availability? Instead of using TEEP that is typically based on calendarized availability, looking at the Daily Equipment Effectiveness Performance of your operation may provide some interesting insights.

Working overtime due to material or equipment availability occurs many times.  Unfortunately, we find that sometimes these very same machines are idle during the week.

A detailed explanation for calculating DEEP can be found in one of our earlier posts, “OEE, Downtime, and TEEP.”  Understanding machine utilization patterns may provide greater insight into the actual versus planned operating pattern of your process.

Just something to invoke some thoughts for your operation and to perhaps identify another opportunity to improve performance.

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We welcome your feedback and thank you for visiting.

Until Next Time – STAY Lean!

OEE For Manufacturing

We are often asked what companies (or types of companies) are using OEE as part of their daily operations.  While our focus has been primarily in the automotive industry, we are highly encouraged by the level of integration deployed in the Semiconductor Industry.  We have found an excellent article that describes how OEE among other metrics is being used to sustain and improve performance in the semiconductor industry.

Somehow it is not surprising to learn the semiconductor industry has established a high level of OEE integration in their operations.  Perhaps this is the reason why electronics continue to improve at such a rapid pace in both technology and price.

To get a better understanding of how the semiconductor industry has integrated OEE and other related metrics into their operational strategy, click here.

The article clearly presents a concise hierarchy of metrics (including OEE) typically used in operations and includes their interactions and dependencies.  The semiconductor industry serves as a great benchmark for OEE integration and how it is used as powerful tool to improve operations.

While we have reviewed some articles that describe OEE as an over rated metric, we believe that the proof of wisdom is in the result.  The semiconductor industry is exemplary in this regard.  It is clear that electronics industry “gets it”.

As we have mentioned in many of our previous posts, OEE should not be an isolated metric.  While it can be assessed and reviewed independently, it is important to understand the effect on the system and organization as a whole.

We appreciate your feedback.  Please feel free to leave us a comment or send us an e-mail with your suggestions to leanexecution@gmail.com

Until Next Time – STAY lean!

OEE for Batch Processes

We recently received an e-mail regarding OEE calculations for batch processes and more specifically the effect on down stream equipment that is directly dependent (perhaps integrated) on the batch process.  While the inquiry was specifically related to the printing industry, batch processing is found throughout manufacturing. Our more recent experiences pertain to heat treating operations where parts are loaded into a stationary fixed load oven as opposed to a continuous belt process.

Batch processing will inherently cause directly integrated downstream equipment (such as cooling, quenching, or coating processes) to be idle. It many cases it doesn’t make sense to measure the OEE of each co-dependent piece of equipment that is part of the same line or process. Unless there is a strong case otherwise, it may be better to de-integrate subsequent downstream processes.

Batch processing presents a myriad of challenges for line balancing, batch sizes, and capacity management in general.  We presented two articles in April 2009 that addressed the topic of  where OEE should be measured.  Click here for Part I or Click  here for Part II.

Please leave your comments regarding this or other topics.  We appreciate your feedback.  Also, remember to get your free OEE spreadsheets.  See our free downloads page or click on the file you want from the “Orange” box file on the sidebar.

Until Next Time – STAY lean!

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.

Remember to get your free Excel Templates by visiting our FREE Downloads page.  We appreciate your feedback.  Please leave a comment an email to leanexecution@gmail.com or vergence.consultin@gmail.com

Until Next Time – STAY Lean!

OEE Topics for 2009

We changed our theme!

Today was another day to do a little maintenance. We spent a little time revamping our look and feel. We hope you enjoy the changes and find our site a little easier to navigate.  We updated our Free Downloads page to present another easier and more direct venue to get your files instantly using Box.Net. If you’re already familiar with WordPress, you know how great this widget is. Downloads could never be faster or easier.

We also took some time to update some of our pages. We would suggest, however, that the best detailed content appears in the individual articles that we have posted.

Upcoming Topics for 2009

1. Tracking OEE Improvements:  We have noticed an increase in the number of requests to discuss tracking OEE improvements.  We have been working on a few different approaches even for our own consulting practice and look forward to sharing some thoughts and ideas here.
2. How OEE can improve your Cost of Non-Quality.  It’s more than yield.
3. What OEE can do for your Inventory.  Improvements should be cascading to other areas of your operation – including the warehouse.
4. Innovation – Defining your future with OEE
5. OEE and Agile - Going beyond lean with OEE.
6. Best Practices – OEE in real life, in real time

If you would like to suggest a topic for a future post, ask a question, or make a suggestion, please leave a comment or simply send an e-mail to LeanExecution@gmail.com or vergence.consulting@gmail.com.  We do appreciate your feedback.

Until Next Time – STAY lean!

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Welcome to LeanExecution!

Welcome!  If you are a first time visitor interested in getting started with OEE, click here to access our first post “OEE – Overall Equipment Effectiveness“.  This is the post that started it all.

We have presented many articles over the past many months featuring OEE (Overall Equipment Effectiveness) and related topics.  Our latest posts appear immediately following this welcome message.  You can also use the sidebar widgets to select from our top posts or to to select key posts by category.

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Questions, Comments, Future Topics

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Until Next Time – STAY lean!

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 integrated OEE system should provide the data to answer the questions on everyone’s mind, ”What do we need to do to improve?” or “Why aren’t we improving?”  The simple answer is, “We need to fix it.”  Of course the real question may not be, “What do we need to fix?” but, “Why did it break?”

Yes, we will likely have to replace the part(s) that failed to get the line back up and running, but what really caused the failure to occur?  What was the real root cause?  This introductory post to problem solving and root cause analysis will kick start some of the techniques used to solve problems effectively.

The Problem Statement:

The key to effective problem solving starts with identifying the problem to be solved.  This is typically a brief statement describing the problem.  For external concerns, the problem is usually stated in customer terms.

This post presents some simple examples of problems to be solved.  You will quickly discover that defining the problem may not be as simple as it looks.  We will discuss this in more depth in our future posts.

Root Cause Analysis

Identifying the real root cause(s) for the failure is the secret to successful problem solving.  The method you use to arrive at the root cause should allow you to confirm and validate your solution before taking action.  Here is an important point to remember:

Do not confuse symptoms with root causes.  

For example, you are driving down the road and suddenly find yourself struggling to maintain control of your vehicle.  Your expert driving skills allow you to pull over and stop on the side of the road.  You get out of the car and walk around to discover that you have a flat tire.  The flat tire is a symptom – not the root cause.

As luck would have it, a police officer who just happened to be following you in an unmarked car, notices your sudden erratic driving behavior and charges you with recklessness and careless driving.  Since none of the tires on the police car are flat, the officer presumes the condition of your vehicle is the direct result of your poor driving skills and bad habits after many years on the road.  Another point to remember:

Do not jump to conclusions

You, like many people, would argue that your many years of driving provided you with the experience necessary to avert danger.  The officer quickly recognizes that your many years of experience have caused you to lose perspective of the potential hazards of driving.  The officer advises that your driving record shows no record of any tickets or accidents and clearly suggests that you have had very few “experiences” with the law and minimal exposure to poor road conditions.

The officer proceeds to charge you, the operator, because you simply weren’t paying attention to the conditions and potential hazards of the road.  You are given a ticket to serve as a reminder to pay more attention to the road and to be mindful of your driving habits in the future.  Then to add insult to injury, the officer advises you to fix your tire and drive carefully. 

Unforgiving of the circumstances and since quota’s have to be met, the charges stand and you find yourself on your way to court.  As you sit in your vehicle, stunned that you just got a ticket for getting a flat tire, you are conflicted and fuming because the officer blamed you, your poor driving skills, and your bad habits for driving recklessly down the road!  The following tip will help you remember:

Operator Error is not a Root Cause

Many times, management is too quick to attribute the root cause to operator error.

5 WHY Analysis

One of the best methods for identifying the real root cause is the 5-Why approach.  The concept of asking the question “WHY?” five times is quite simple.  In practice though, you will find it may not be that easy.  Why?  Because the wrong answer will lead you through a continuing series of wrong answers that ultimately lead to the wrong conclusion.

There is always more than one answer – Which one is correct?

Referring back to our example of the flat tire, you now need an argument to absolve yourself of any blame for the incident on the highway.  In court, the judge asks, “How you plead to the charges before you?”  You answer, “Not Guilty your honor.”

1. Why?  While I was driving down the road, I got a flat tire.
2. Why?  Because all the air ran out of my tire.
3. Why?  Because there was a hole in it.
4. Why?  Because the tire didn’t have anti-puncture technology.
5. Why?  Because the manufacturer didn’t design it properly.

Were it not for my expert driving skills, this situation could have been much worse.  As it was, using my superior driving skills, I successfully managed to maneuver my vehicle, without incident, to the side of the road, averting what could have been a disastrous crash.  Therefore, I request to be completely absolved of any and all wrongful doing and I am filing a class action suit against the tire manufacturer to cover court costs, lost wages, and damages as well as my emotional stress.

Clearly not satisfied, the judge requests you to take a 10 minute break to rethink your case.  On your return to the courtroom, you are prepared to present the following argument:

1. Why?  While I was driving down the road, I got a flat tire.
2. Why?  Because all the air ran out of my tire.
3. Why?  Because there was a hole in it.
4. Why?  Because there was a nail on the road.
5. Why?  Because the government refuses to keep the highways clean.

Were it not for my expert driving skills, this situation could have been much worse.  As it was, using my superior driving skills, I successfully managed to maneuver my vehicle, without incident, to the side of the road, averting what could have been a disastrous crash.  Therefore, I am filing a class action suit against the government to cover for court costs, lost wages, and damages as well as my emotional stress.  To resolve this matter quickly, I request that all charges be dropped and I in turn will drop my counter-claim.

The purpose of the above example was to demonstrate how the answer to the question – WHY? - can lead to completely different conclusions.  On one hand we’re ready to sue the tire manufacturer and on the other, we’re ready to take on the government.  If there was indeed a nail on the road, how did it get there?

Don’t Assign Blame

Solving problems and getting to the root cause is not about assigning blame to someone or something.  You can’t blame the government or the tire company for the fact that there was a nail on the road.  It is to easy to assign blame and it happens everywhere, everyday.  Perhaps the nail manufacturer should be sued as well for failing to provide adequate protections should the nail become lost or misplaced.

The question that wasn’t asked is, “Why was the nail on the road?”  The answer may be that it likely fell out of a board or from a truck or trailer that may have been carrying construction materials.  Again, being careful with the answer, we don’t want to come to the conclusion that nails should be banned completely.

On the other hand, it may be worthwhile to advise that all companies and contractors must make a reasonable effort and take appropriate precautions and measures to ensure that all loads are secure and free from loose raw materials.  Any nails must be placed in a sealed container and secured to the vehicle for the purpose of transport.  A maximum fine of $2,000.00 may be imposed and made payable to the “Operator Error Trust Fund.”

Leading the Witness:  The solution BIAS

STOP! - if you think you already know the answer – Stop!  We know that the right question doesn’t always lead to the right answer as we attempted to show in our example.  Another major pitfall is thinking we already have the answer and we just need to frame the questions and answers to support that conclusion.  This isn’t problem solving, this is creative story telling.  Don’t lead your team into following what “appears” to be a logical conclusion – be prepared to prove it.

Don’t Assume Anything – Follow the EVIDENCE

At a minimum, follow the evidence.  What is the data telling you?  It’s time to start thinking like a crime scene investigator (CSI) or good lawyer.  Asking questions and continuing to probe for answers is the secret to uncovering the less obvious and, more than likely, real solution.

Many OEE equipment / software integrators provide the ability to record and track downtime events in real time.  This data is extremely valuable for trouble shooting and problem solving; however, they are not necessarily root causes.  The integrators provide the capability to readily identify what part of the process failed or what is broken.  While this may be the cause of the line down condition, it is not the root cause of the problem.

Do not confuse the Point of Failure (Source) with the Root Cause

Don’t fall into this trap:

• Supervisor:  “The OEE system report showed that we lost two hours on the paint line last night.”
• Maintenance:  “Yeah, I saw the report too.  This OEE system tracks everything!”
• Supervisor:  “Why did the line go down?”
• Maintenance:  ”The A-Tank feed pump overheated.  The OEE system told us exactly which pump failed.  It saved us a ton of time.”
• Supervisor:  ”What did you do?”
• Maintenance:  “Oh, we replaced it.  The line is running fine now.”
• Supervisor:  “OK, that’s good.  Thanks.”

End of conversation.

So, WHY did the pump overheat?  Some questions just never get asked, but I’m sure the OEE will be just fine on the next shift.  We recognize that most effective TPM managers are sharper than this.  Our point is that not everyone is looking at the data from the same perspective.

We’ll discuss “How to Improve OEE” in more detail in our next post:  “How to use the 5 Why Approach.”

Until Next Time – STAY lean!

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 have discussed integration of OEE as an effective metric for managing your processes, and ultimately we reviewed analyzing and using the data to improve your profitability.  We have spent little time discussing where this measurement should occur.    Note that OEE can be measured for both manual and automated lines as well as any stand alone operation.

The OEE factors (Performance, Availability, and Quality) are process output results.  The expectation, of course, is to manage the inputs to the process to assure the optimal result is achieved.  Availability may be calculated during the run, performance can only be measured after the machine cycle has been completed, and Quality can only be determined after the part is produced.

At a minimum then, it makes sense to measure OEE at the end (output) of the line or process but this is not always ideal.  The complexity of OEE measurement arises where single or multiple sub-cells are constrained by an upstream or downstream operation or bottleneck operation.  The flow, rate, or pace of a process is always  restricted or limited by a  sequence / process constraint or bottleneck operation.  Just as a chain is only as strong as its weakest link, so too is the line speed limited by the bottleneck operation. 

We contend that the ”Control-Response” loop for any process must enable immediate and effective corrective  to be taken based on the measured data and observations.  Measuring OEE in real time at the bottleneck process makes it an ideal “Trigger Point” metric or “Control-Response” metric for managing the overall process even in ”isolation” at the bottleneck operation.  Any variations at the bottleneck correlate directly to upstream and downstream process performance. 

If a customer operation is down, production is disrupted – no product demand.  If a supplier operation is down, product is disrupted – product in demand.  A customer down situation may be outside the scope of the operation or external to the organization and the same may be true for an external supplier.  Both situations will have an impact on the OEE Availability factor.

It is also important to note that real time OEE requires that these events and others, such as product disposition, are reported in real time as well.  External events may be more difficult to capture in real time and by automated systems in particular.  Operator interfaces must accommodate reporting of these events as they occur.

Reporting PITFALL – After-the-Fact events

If a quality defect is discovered several days after production was reported and all parts have been placed on hold for sorting or rework, the QUALITY Factor for that run should be changed to ZERO.  In turn, the net OEE for that run will also be ZERO.  If the system is not changed, the integrity of the data is lost.  This also exemplifies that real time data may be deceiving if proper controls are not in place.

It would appear that the question, “Where do we measure?”, is accompanied by the question, “When do we measure?”  The short list of examples provided here should be events that are far and few between.  If this is a daily occurrence, you may consider adopting the banking policy of, “adjustments to your account will be reflected on the following business day”.  We would suggest that a system is in need of a rapid fix.

OEE should be one of the few vital signs or metrics for your manufacturing operation.  As such, measure it where you will reap the greatest benefit.  Focus your attention on the process or operation that will provide the greatest benefit.  OEE is as much a diagnostic tool as it is a monitoring tool.

Until Next Time – STAY lean!