How do you get an instant feel for how your production is doing?
August 11, 2009 by adrianpask
The answer is simple - you visualize it!
You turn a jumble of numbers into an easy-to-understand picture. That’s exactly what OptimumFX XL800 OEE System delivers with the Total Production TimelineTM.
XL800 OEE System Total Production Timeline
How does it work? XL800 OEE System automatically senses if your line is running or down, and it tracks breaks and changeovers. TPTTM combines that information into a compelling visual where colour indicates state (e.g. green means running) and length indicates duration.
Who can see it? Anyone on your network. All you need is a simple web browser - there is no software to install. XL800 OEE System does the rest.
How do I get it? TPT is part of the XL800 OEE System analytics suite - it’s embedded right in the XL800 OEE System device. With our Free trial option you can even use the system commitment free for 3 months.
What else do I get? XL is a complete performance management solution. It provides automated, accurate real-time manufacturing intelligence to everyone in your plant. It includes a production scoreboard that motivates your employees to “win” their shift and it delivers web-based live production information to supervisors and managers - wherever they are.
How do I get started? Here are some options:
- Call us on +44 (0) 121 447 8520 - we’ll talk about your specific challenges.
- Start a FREE trial - try XL800 in your plant.
- Schedule an online meeting - see XL800 in action.
- Download an Executive Summary - show XL800 to your team.
XL800 OEE System: Out-of-the-box productivity improvement
XL800 Hitting the news!
August 3, 2009 by adrianpask
To publicise our ongoing development of the XL800 OEE system we’ve recently published an article outlining the role of XL in Europe. Read our release from here:
http://uk.prweb.com/releases/2009/08/prweb2696784.htm
Updated introduction to XL800 OEE System
June 8, 2009 by adrianpask
We’re delighted to announce that we’ve now released a whole batch of additional functionality for our XL800 OEE System….and the great news is that we’re making this update available to all customers completely free of charge.
With our new update you can:
1. View all your XL800 OEE Systems in a unique Factory Dashboard - you will be able to instantly see which lines/machines need your instant attention.
2. Capture detailed fault diagnostics - using our new visual “Total Production Timeline” not only will you see what downtime you’ve had, you’ll be able to see when it happened and what it cost you
3. Detailed fault analysis - with our integrated pareto analysis tools you will instantly be able to see your top reasons for downtime today, yesterday, this month, last month at the touch of a button.
View these features and more:
Is OEE the right measure for you?
May 26, 2009 by adrianpask
I recently contributed to a post on OEE measurement on Lean.org from a guy asking if OEE is the measure for his bespoke manufacutring plant. Having posted it i think it’s worth posting here as well:
Here’s a thought for you - OEE is a great metric for an process in which equipment is the constraint. You can tell this from the way that the 6 losses/3 losses of OEE are all based on equipment performance.
At this point i would like to ask you a question - what is the constraint in your manufacturing process?
I.e. if you want to increase output what is the first thing that you change - do hire more people to run more machines, do you buy more raw materials, do you book more outgoing vehicles, do you reduce changeovers, do your increase machine running time? You can find this out be asking a random selection of people - “what do we need to do to produce more parts?”
Based on my experience in similar environments to yours equipment performance is very rarely the bottleneck in the process; it’s typically human related. I.e when we bring in more people we make more product. In this instance the best metric is something human related - a productivity Man hours/tonne type measure with OEE as a secondary driver on specific machines.
I’m not saying don’t use OEE, i’m saying make sure that your primary measure causes you to optimise your bottleneck. I was in a packing environment with 30yr old machines a while ago where they have 200% capacity and were measuring OEE. To get OEE up they were running 1/2 their machines as hard as possible whilst the others were stopped. Due to the age of the machines this meant huge amounts of maintenance was needed to keep the machines running and lots of labour to keep them going. By moving to a productivity measure we now run all the machines at 40% OEE with the same number of staff. Our cost per tonne has gone down and our poor old machines aren’t being thrashed to bits.
Pick a measure that measures your constraint. Use OEE only when equipment is your constraint.
Here’s an idea - if you want to measure productivity then it’s possible to program your XL800 OEE system with a productivity constant. This will enable it to display a real time “£/Unit” or “Man hour/Tonne” type measure on your factory floor. OEE is only the starting point!
Video introduction to XL800 Reporting
May 25, 2009 by adrianpask
In the video clip below you’ll find a 5 minute introduction to the XL800 OEE System Reporting features. This is our first video feature so we would massively welcome your feedback!
Choosing an OEE system
April 30, 2009 by adrianpask
I’ve recently been following the Elsmar.com Forum for manufacturing improvement and there’s a post on there asking what to consider for an OEE data capture system. Having spent some time responding i’ve decided to be lean and use the same content on my blog! Let me know what you think!
Oh a quick thought (i’m writing this after finishing everything else!) - here’s an idea of what an OEE system should be: “A good data capture system is simply a robust resource allocation tool”. Whatever you do it should lead directly to people doing something differently as a result of using the data. Now you can probably ignore everything else i’ve written below…and feel free to read on!
If i may offer some advice it would be in the following areas:
1. Identify where the constraint is in your process
2. Identify the measure that not only tells you the extent of the constraint, but what the contributing factors to loss are
3. Understand the metric, automate it and train people thoroughly. Get their buy in and support.
4. Establish a robust management review methodology based on the metric - hence the need for automation; an automated process frees up your management team to fix the losses not spend all their time calculating them.
1. Identify the constraint:
If i may offer some advice it would be to help identify what your objective for recording the data might be. Whatever you choose to record i would recommend that it measures the constraint in your manufacturing process. If your constraint is a mechanical one - i.e. to produce more produce you just need to run a machine more/get less stops then OEE is a great measure for you. If however, your constraint is relieved by hiring more people, or more generally your constraint is labour based then i would steer you towards more of a man hour / tonne type metric. By the way an XL800 System can measure both very easily - how would you like a real time £/tonne measure displayed on the factory floor?
2. The correct measure:
The value to OEE is not that you get an OEE number. You’ve made what you’ve made - there’s little point in reviewing it. I visit so many sites that can tell me their OEE but can’t tell me where their losses are. The value to measuring OEE is in the categorisation of loss. If you know the loss you can apply the right tool to fix.
E.g. for OEE:
3 Loss: Quality, Performance, Availability
6 Loss: Speed, minor stops, major stops, quality in process, quality on startup, planned downtime.
If you have a planned downtime loss apply smed techniques. If you have a minor stop loss apply kaizan blitz techniques. The value is not the OEE number - it’s the collection and categorisation of the loss that counts!
3. Understand and train:
There are 2 main schools of thought on the collection of OEE data. One is the manual school that says it’s better for operators to collect so that they understand and you get the ‘real losses’. The other is the automated school that says it’s better to get the correct data and then work out the real losses later.
An automated system only ever tells you symptoms for your downtime - its diagnostics are only so good as the signals you give it. That said, how often has an operator identified the real root cause for a stop - 9.9 times out of 10 they’ll note down a symptom.
My personal belief is that it’s better to use an automated system that captures your losses accurately…and then use management process and review to drill down. Manual data systems like the ones you’ve listed take a lot of work to maintain and i have yet to find one that’s accurate to >60% simply due to the nature of human data capture.
Therefore i sit firmly in the second school and am capable of installing a system that correctly identifies loss on canning/bottling/packing lines running at >30,000units/hour to accuracies of over 98%.
The message here is again back to objectives - what do you want to achieve. Whichever root you choose involve your teams. I remember installing a system in a bottling plant in which the operator came up to me and said “this is crap, all crap. I’ll show you - i’ll find all the problems with your system”. It was brilliant! He was the best snagger i’ve ever met. I just took all his feedback and fixed it all. After a month he had to admit the system was good because he’d commissioned it for me! Now stop him from training everyone else on ‘his system’!
4. Robust process:
A system is ONLY so good as how it’s used. You could spend £10 or £180,000 on a system. If you don’t use it you’ll get the same result and the same payback.
We often support people to establish robust internal processes for using the data, documenting the actions that arise from interrogating the data, and then a management review process for driving change. Typically this looks as follows:
1. 24hr daily reviews - looking at 24hr data. Objective is to identify what actions are still open, see if we have any reoccurring issues, assign resource where needed.
2. 4hr Short Interval Control - a regular review (initially at 4 hr intervals, moving to 2) with front line management and engineers. 1st objective is to identify greatest loss from last window of time and ensure closed off. 2nd objective is to identify what needs to be done differently in the next window of time based on the data currently available.
3. A variety of strategic review - looking at trended data for maintenance, engineering, planning, forecasting etc.
Remember - your level of payback is directly related to how you use the data.
So what OEE system works? Whichever one you commit to using fully. My advice would be to look beyond a software download as i think you may struggle to use it fully simply as it’s reliant on manual data collection. That said, i’ve created and implemented several of these in the past on sites performing at between 25-40% OEE and got great results.
Also if you’re running at <45% my belief is that you don’t need to spend a fortune collecting data because you’re line is down for 4 hours in every 8. People know where the issues are because they’re in them! But when you head up into the 65%+ territory you’ll struggle to continue improving without robust automated data capture.
Plan for improving OEE with XL800 OEE System
April 21, 2009 by adrianpask
What results can you expect to get in free trial of our XL800 OEE System?
To help answer that question we have recently created a planner that you can use with your teams when you start your free trial of the XL800 OEE System.
Our intention here is to equip you with the tools necessary to get the system installed and operational as quickly as possible by engaging the key stakeholders in your site with some really clear objectives and accountabilities.
Please feel free to let me know what you think.
1. Click here to download as a pdf
2. View as an image:
Look how easy an XL800 installation is!!!
April 2, 2009 by adrianpask
We think you’ll like this - XL800 is SUCH an easy easy installation you really can get it working in hours…and in most instances we only need 3 cables wired to the board.
It really is that easy!
Literally within hours of taking it out of the box you will:
- Be monitoring your OEE
- Be monitoring your takt time and cycle times
- Be upgrading your Andon lamps with USEFUL downtime alerts not just flashing lights
- Be monitoring your total output
- Be monitoring your 3 losses to OEE - availability, quality, and performance
And this is before you even put it on your production network and start entering targets and using the other really cool features…and we haven’t even started on what you could do with the full 22 inputs we have available.
To prove just how easy the installation is, check out this pdf link below - it will show you where to take you count sensors from and the 3 cables you need to start getting great results.
Click here for the pdf link for your XL800 installation
To clarify here’s a summary of what we can give you straight out of the box:
OEE analysis signals and inputs
Plant View with XL800 OEE Systems - coming soon!
April 2, 2009 by adrianpask
Introducing our new OEE Factory Dashboard: Plant View with XL800 OEE Systems
- Would it be useful if you could look at one screen and see a summary of your entire plant OEE?
- Is it important to you to instantly know in real time how well your entire plant is running?
- Imagine how much easier it would be to allocate resource to your worse performing areas…
Now you can with our brand new “Plant View” screen
When you have multiple XL800 OEE Systems installed on your network you can instantly see the real time performance of each machine in one handy factory dashboard.
If you’re a Production Manager or an Engineering Manager you can now see the real time performance of your plant on one screen without even leaving your desk!!!
Naturally we’ll be offering this upgrade free of charge to all existing customers and will contact you directly to pass on this great new feature towards the end of April.
Click on the picture below to see it full screen:
View Multiple XL800 OEE systems on one page
As ever, we are keen to recieve your feedback - let me know what you think about this new addition.
OEE on a flow line - installing your XL800 OEE system
January 28, 2009 by adrianpask
One question that comes up quite regularly when i’m demonstrating the XL800 OEE System is: “How can i get the most from an XL800 OEE System when i have more than 1 machine that i want to measure?“.
If you have 1 machine that you want to monitor, or a simple block process, the location for your XL800 OEE System is extremely obvious - you install it on either the single machine, or (and) in an area where the operators can see it easily as per this example:
XL800 OEE System on a single machine
How to get the most from XL800 OEE System on a Continuous Flow line:
If you have run a continuous flow line (typical of most food, drink, confectionary manufacture) then when we talk about XL most manufacturers say: “We want to install this on the bottleneck machine, and we also want to analyse the other machines on the line”. This presents us with a couple of technical issues; firstly XL800 is optimised to provide detailed analysis of a single machine, secondly as part of analysing a single machine you would need our LineView system to analyse the “causal downtime” i.e. the effect of your other machines on the bottleneck machine. Secondly it presents an operational issue: I know many sites that try to collect everything but don’t act on the data, and they don’t improve. To drive your OEE up - collect only what you need, as simply as possible, and act on it vigorously.
So here’s a work-around that i outline in this scenario:
- Install the XL800 OEE system on your Bottleneck machine as normal
- Install a “lack of product” signal from your infeed conveyor. This signal machines that your bottleneck machine is available to run but cannot run due to lack of product = upstream stoppage.
- Install a “build back” signal from your outfeed conveyor. This signal machines that your bottleneck machine is available to run but cannot run due to build back of product on the outfeed = downstream stoppage
- Install whatever additional faults you want on your bottleneck machine and other machines
How this will help:
- You will know the efficiency and downtime on your bottleneck machine, which is crucial
- You will know that of all the time the bottleneck is not running, how much of that time is due to upstream or downstream issues, rather than the machine just being not available.
XL800 OEE System on a Flow Line
With this information i would:
- Carry out a Short Interval Control every hour or 2 hours - SEE MY POST ON THIS HERE
- If the greatest loss to my bottleneck machine is lack or buildback then i would identify which machine has caused that loss, and why.
- If i can’t identify why or the root cause, I would put a manual tick sheet on that machine for 1 hour only and ask the operator to get some good quality downtime data.
- I would fix the root cause and review my downtime loss to the bottleneck machine
- Repeat
In my opinion one of the greatest pitfalls that a site can fall into is “I want to collect everything right now”. I promise you that if you try to collect everything you will either collect rubbish by spreading your resource to thin, or you will not be able to take action because you’re reviewing data. Collect only what you need to improve and act on it vigorously.
The more simple and elegant your initial solution, the greater the likelihood of it adding value.
