Manufacturers have to track the performance in their factory very carefully. In any factory, it’s vitally important that employee and machine performance remains at an acceptable level. There are several factors that affect worker performance in a factory. Over the past century, there have been hundreds of studies that have focused on the factors that affect employee performance. Different factors, such as working conditions, financial incentives, giving time off, and other perquisites, all play a very important role.
However, manufacturing concerns don’t just have to focus on worker productivity and performance. They also have to focus on the machines. Workers and machines are required to work in tandem with each other, in order to meet the production targets of the company. One of the best metric practices that is widely used in different companies is the Overall Equipment Effectiveness metric. OEE monitoring has become a standard practice in many manufacturing organisations nowadays.
Basically, this metric helps companies determine the percentage of planned production that was actually productive. A considerable amount of the company’s resources are being used throughout the day when the factory is open. As a result, the company would want to ensure that the resources are being put to good use. OEE can be used as a yardstick for future performance, or as a baseline, in order to ensure that the company performs better.
A full 100% OEE score means that all of the company’s targets are being met, and production is going at the maximum possible rate, with zero down time. However in order to track machine effectiveness and performance, you will need to use OEE monitoring software in your organisation. For discrete manufacturers, even achieving a score of 85% is considered a world-class score. However, in most organisations, the score usually ranges between 60-65%.
Why Use the Software?
For small business owners that have very little margin for error or downtime, using OEE monitoring programs can do a lot of good. It can help you track the performance of the machines and employees, to ensure that downtime is restricted. It also helps minimise the chances of your company’s resources being wasted. Many of the world’s leading organisations have already built up complex mechanisms for tracking employee performance and machine effectiveness in their manufacturing facilities. It’s important that you learn how to track the productivity of your machines and employees, so that you can get the best out of them.
Other Features
Apart from simply helping you track the effectiveness of your employees, the monitoring software program also offers a variety of other features. It can help you track your carbon footprint allowing you to minimise the wastage of energy from your manufacturing processes. It can also help you improve batch traceability, so that you are always aware of when a batch was made and how far down the production line it has gone. It’s a fantastic software program that offers plenty of benefits to business owners who want to ensure that production is streamlined.