How to inform the SHOP FLOOR TEAM

Above all, the OEE Coach is an instrument for those who know the machines best: the operators, Maintenance personnel, and engineers. Based on the data collected by the team itself – usually through the operators –, the team has, with the aid of the OEE Coach, information at its disposal that shows how effectively the machine is operating and where there are possibilities for improvement.

How to use it

The charts with the calculation results can be displayed daily on a permanent ‘Daily Management Board’ near the machine. This allows the production team to display how effective their daily actions were and where they could be (request to be) helped.

For example, it could be the central topic of discussion during a shift change or a morning meeting about the results obtained. In this manner, causes for the occurrence of losses can be demonstrated. With the aid of a cause-and-effect analysis, solutions can be found that go further than ‘putting out fires’ and ‘makeshift (the obvious) solutions’. A proven method is the ‘5 x – Why’ technique asking ‘why’ something occurred until the root cause has been uncovered. As soon as the root cause is known the team can start searching for a solution.

Time span

A production team looks at the value adding process in great detail; as a result, it has much experience with and knowledge of this process. As a rule, such a team checks a time span of roughly 7 days: the day’s date, 3 days ahead, and 3 days back.

Unfortunately, changes occur substantially slower. The danger is that such changes will go unnoticed, because they fall outside the team’s ‘frame of reference’. Comparing this to children growing up will clarify this: You will only notice that they have grown up when the shoes no longer fit or when you look at old photographs.

Providing a frame of reference

As the time span is relatively short, it is important to provide the team with figures for comparison; a frame of reference that covers a longer time span. The daily or weekly feedback can then be continuously compared with the same data that cover a time span of three months or even a year. Only then it becomes evident whether the effectiveness is going in the right direction!

For that reason, an ‘OEE Cockpit’ on the machine has preferably two or three layers:

• The previous year
• The previous month
• The last 24 hours/week