Increase in OEE thanks to 24/7 monitoring

The Industrial Internet of Things allows you to track machine performance 24/7 and, as a result, react to potential problems in real time. How does it affect OEE (Overall Equipment Effectiveness)?

The OEE indicator defines the extent to which the production capacity is used in an industrial plant. It measures the efficiency of machinery and equipment use, is expressed as a percentage and consists of three indicators:

• availability, which determines the ratio of the time planned for the implementation of specific tasks to the actual period that is allocated to it. When counting the availability time, only the standard interruptions should be subtracted. The category of downtime, i.e. non-standard breaks, includes unexpected breakdowns and the resulting breaks in production, quality stops or component shortages.
• use (efficiency) — that is, the ratio of available time to actual work, which is underestimated by the speed losses of the operation. An important aspect in this case is the correct definition of production cycle times. Failure to meet the correctness condition may result in obtaining incorrect values, which will falsify the entire OEE indicator.
• quality (defect level), defining the number of good pieces in relation to all manufactured products.

Anomaly detection directly affects one of the main indicators of the efficiency of the use of machines and devices, i.e. availability. In this case, diagnosing irregularities and analyzing their causes provides industrial plants with a lot of important information that allows them to achieve tangible benefits, i.e. eliminating losses related to excessive downtime, breakdowns or too long time spent on retooling. On the other hand, performance analysis makes it easier to decide on the appropriate time for inspection, repair or replacement.

At the same time, the role of OEE is not only to indicate the current state, but also to enable continuous and conscious control of production losses thanks to the monitoring of partial indicators. Achieving OEE at the level of 100% means that the operation ran smoothly and there were no interruptions or downtime, but achieving efficiency of up to 85% (which is a long-term goal for most companies) is practically impossible without solutions supporting employees in ongoing production monitoring. Such a solution is, among others FitMech system that collects and processes data from machines located in the production hall, in order to provide operators with information on their status, work cycles or potential downtime. Real-time machine monitoring thus helps to increase the hardware efficiency and cost efficiency of the enterprise.

Benefits for OEE from real-time production analysis

One source of information — information silos prevent efficient internal communication and slow down the smooth flow of messages between employees, which in turn translates into production efficiency and speed of decision making. A system that analyzes production in real time connects all departments and entities involved in the process, standardizes methodology, terminology and reporting procedures in all production plants, while supporting a data-driven decision-making culture that enables employees to make fast, effective operational and operational decisions. business.

Access to reports and dashboards — making strategic business decisions quickly requires appropriate software that monitors production efficiency in real time, and at the same time generates various reports and dashboards that can be tailored to the needs of individual users. At the same time, it updates performance and generates benchmarking charts that are automatically available to other team members. These notifications and insights help employees identify problems well in advance and deal with them faster than traditional processes where they are diagnosed after a failure occurs and production stops.

Real-time intelligent alerts — they are automatically sent to selected employees as soon as performance changes are detected or KPIs deviate from the set limits. This allows operators and managers to react immediately and avoid costly downtime or product quality issues before they become major problems, exposing the company to costly losses.

Greater transparency — the flow of information to all interested parties increases the visibility of operations. Task management becomes simplified when all team members receive and are able to analyze production data in real time. Digital, ongoing monitoring of the production hall also facilitates the transfer and, on the other hand, obtaining information, e.g. on the status of work or any problems occurring in the event of personnel changes. Customers also benefit from transparency, especially in the area of ​​”just-in-time” deliveries, as the system immediately informs about business needs and the status of the production process.

Increased production efficiency — real-time machine monitoring software increases production efficiency at the same time, so it is necessary to improve operations in the hall and increase OEE. Why? Because it identifies and thus enables you to quickly eliminate the causes of slowdowns or schedule predictive maintenance. Modern production analysis software also monitors the energy efficiency and compares the energy consumption of the machine, as well as notifies about deviations in its operation. It also facilitates the monitoring of working time and thus enables the determination of exact costs.

Quick problem identification and resolution — thanks to the flow of information in real time, employees immediately know when OEE losses occur, thanks to which they can analyze production data on an ongoing basis and quickly identify the source of the problem, i.e. damaged equipment, lower speed, delays, etc. The system can be programmed to track KPIs and related activities, generate reports, notes and alarms for analysis of the causes of this.

Safe data transfer — As the use of real-time production analysis based on data processed in the cloud computing increases, so are concerns about data security and the speed of data transfer. Cloud solutions provide a secure, independent and stable wireless network that works independently of factory operations.

Summary

OEE is one of the best and most reliable methods of measuring production efficiency. However, it is worth improving the assessment of the overall hardware efficiency of the enterprise. It is possible thanks to real-time monitoring and analyzes carried out thanks to IoT solutions, which enable the improvement of OEE values, among others thanks to the analysis of historical data and optimization of production, receiving notifications that help prevent breakdowns, reducing the cost of preventive maintenance, monitoring process parameters or support in supply chain management. Often times, a small change can bring huge benefits to optimize and increase production efficiency. Contact our specialists and see how IoT will help you reap the benefits mentioned above.