OEE (Overall Equipment Effectiveness) is much more than just a metric : it’s the true benchmark of industrial performance!
However, between complex formulas, the gap between theory and reality on the shop floor, and poorly calibrated tools, it can quickly become a source of frustration.
The good news? Improving your OEE doesn’t have to be complicated or expensive.
Here are 10 practical and easy-to-implement tips to help you better monitor, analyze, and sustainably boost your OEE, without launching a massive project or blowing your budget!
1. Measure your OEE continuously, not just once a month
A useful OEE is a real-time OEE. Waiting for the monthly report often means reacting too late.
✅ By measuring continuously, you detect losses as soon as they occur and can correct them immediately.
👉 With KEYPROD, you get a live view of your OEE, machine by machine, for fast, shop-floor-driven decision-making.
2. Clearly distinguish availability, performance, and quality
OEE isn’t just a single global figure, it’s the combination of three key levers:
- Availability = machine downtime
- Performance = production slowdowns
- Quality = scrap rate
👉 If you don’t clearly distinguish these components, you risk targeting the wrong areas for improvement.
3. Don’t Underestimate Micro-Stops
A 30-second stop every 10 minutes may seem insignificant, but these repeated micro-stops add up and can cost you valuable hours each month.
👉 Bonus: Quickly identify the machines most affected by these micro-stops to prioritize your actions and significantly improve your OEE.
4. Forget Excel (or Almost)
Manually filling out an Excel file at the end of a shift often leads to delays, errors, and incomplete or unclear data.
❌ This manual collection method doesn’t allow for reliable or real-time monitoring.
✔️ Automate data collection, even partially, to make your OEE tracking more reliable and improve your responsiveness.
5. Make OEE Visible on the Shop Floor
OEE isn’t just a KPI reserved for management, it’s an essential hands-on tool for the entire team!
👉 By displaying OEE on a screen visible in the workshop, operators can see their real-time impact and adjust their work faster, fostering better collective performance.
6. Speak OEE in Shop Floor Meetings
OEE must be understood by everyone. Simply explain what it measures, what it doesn’t take into account, and especially how each team member can contribute to its improvement.
👉 Clear and accessible communication is the key to engaging the team and sustainably improving industrial performance.
7. Let Your OEE Variances Speak
When your OEE drops, don’t stay in the dark. Ask yourself these three key questions:
-
Did the machine operate properly? (availability)
-
Did it run at the correct speed? (performance)
-
Were the products conforming to quality standards? (quality)
👉 By analyzing these points precisely, you quickly identify the root cause and can take effective action to improve your OEE.
8. Celebrate Every Improvement, Even Small Ones
A gain of just 2 OEE points on a production line, even if modest, deserves recognition and praise.
✅ Celebrating these improvements motivates teams to keep up their efforts and aim for even greater gains, creating a virtuous cycle of industrial performance.
9. Don’t Aim for 100% OEE (That’s Unrealistic)
An OEE of 100% is a utopia in industry. What you should aim for is:
• A reliable OEE, measured with precise and objective data
• Continuous improvement, step by step, to achieve sustainable progress
🎯 The goal isn’t perfection, but a clear path toward better industrial performance.
10. Use a Tool Truly Designed for OEE
👉 With KEYPROD, you can:
-
Automatically track OEE by machine, line, or team—no manual entry needed
-
Visualize in real time the three key components: availability, performance, and quality
-
Quickly identify the causes of deviations to take effective action
-
Align all teams around reliable, shared data
"With the KEYPROD tool, we increased our initial OEE from around 40–45% to approximately 75–76%." Jérôme Holley - Director, SA2M
🚀 In summary: OEE, your key lever to boost industrial performance
With these 10 tips, you will:
✔️ Make your OEE clear and understandable for everyone
✔️ Share it effectively with your teams
✔️ Turn it into a real driver of continuous improvement, free from unnecessary hassles
And thanks to a tool like KEYPROD, you’ll manage your OEE stress-free and effortlessly, with reliable and actionable data.
👉 Try KEYPROD for free and see your OEE differently (and in real time).
