Understanding Overall Equipment Effectiveness

Obtaining the best OEE

To fully optimize your equipment and obtain the best OEE, a maintenance program should be the cornerstone of facility management. Equipment failure and downtime can greatly reduce OEE and lead to missed production deadlines and increased costs. The importance of a Total Productive Maintenance (TPM) program that identifies and fixes issues before they occur is critical to production and can lead to a significant reduction in repair costs.

By optimizing all of the steps in the production cycle and standardizing materials, very high efficiencies can be achieved. An example is shown in Figure 2, where 134 makereadies and 273,000 impressions were completed in 24 hours on a sheetfed press. This was achieved at a commercial print facility, ESP Color Hub, by having a clear focus on their position in the marketplace and optimizing the press, the consumables, and the operating procedures to deliver high quality prints to many satisfied customers.

For more information on understanding overall equipment effectiveness, contact Dr. Mark Bohan (mark.bohan@heidelberg.com).