One sure way that OEE can be improved is to reduce downtime. This article will explore some good ways that systems are used to reduce downtimes thereby increasing production rates and OEE (Overall Equipment Effectiveness).

One of the biggest weapons in downtime reduction is the pareto chart. A pareto is simply a chart that displays the amount of downtime that has occurred in descending order. A chart like this will show you the biggest reasons for your downtime thereby allowing you to pin point your big problems. One big advantage that a system of this capacity can offer is a drill down capability. We recently looked at the downtime reporting solutions that are offered by ShopFloorReporting.com and the systems not only display downtime information but they allow the user to drill into the detail data and figure out more about the true nature of the problem. The ability to drill down can be a real advantage when studying downtime information.

Another item worth noting is that you should be able to aggregate your downtime codes in different ways. As an example you surely want to be able to distinguish planned downtime occurrences from un-planned events. This will allow you to really zero in on the true problems without the confusion that the planned down times might add to your data. It’s also nice to be able to report on the higher level aggregations to pinpoint just how much of the downtime fits into a given category.

The system that we demoed at ShopFloorReporting.com could handle any level of aggregation. I believe that the one we viewed did category, subcategory and code. The reporting systems offered at ShopFloorReporting.com are in the class of agile systems which means they can be tailored and their not like a piece of software that you buy which is compiled once and sold to many locations. Instead the system exists but you can have the programmers at SFR tailor it to your exact need or your IT staff can do the work.