OEE Facts

Oct. 4, 2012
OEE is a measure of the utilization of an asset’s productive capacity in terms of three factors—availability, performance (throughput), and quality—expressed as percentages of their ideal values.

Multiplying the three percentages results in an overall performance indicator for management. But each element in the equation tells different people in the plant what they need to know about the performance of the equipment; the individual factors let people in production, quality, and maintenance focus on improving their areas of concern. 

OEE Controversy
An informal survey of Automation World readers revealed a sizeable minority of the respondents—43 percent—have used OEE to compare the performance of equipment, production lines and even the manufacturers of equipment. But some argue that OEE neglects issues like loading factor, making it unsuited to such comparisons. TEEP calculations are more effective, they say.

TEEP = OEE x Loading Factor
Total effective equipment performance (TEEP) is the product of OEE and a loading factor computed by dividing planned uptime by calendar time. If you’re planning on running a line only one shift, rather than 24/7, then you have effectively a 30 percent loading factor on that line. 

>> Click here to read Automation World's full coverage on OEE.

About the Author

James R. Koelsch, contributing writer | Contributing Editor

Since Jim Koelsch graduated from college with a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering, he has spent more than 35 years reporting on various kinds of manufacturing technology. His publishing experience includes stints as a staff editor on Production Engineering (later called Automation) at Penton Publishing and as editor of Manufacturing Engineering at the Society of Manufacturing Engineers. After moving to freelance writing in 1997, Jim has contributed to many other media sites, foremost among them has been Automation World, which has been benefiting from his insights since 2004.

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