A methodology to enhance equipment performance using the OEE measure

In recent years, a remarkable improvement has taken place in the maintenance management of physical assets and productive systems to reduce the wastage of energy and resources. The Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE) methodology is a proven approach to increase the overall performance of equipment. Focused improvement and autonomous maintenance are two important activities to enhance equipment performance. These activities aim to educate the participants in the concepts and philosophy of equipment maintenance and give them an opportunity to develop their knowledge and skills. The OEE of the machine needs to be higher for sustained capacity planning. In the present paper, a method is proposed to evaluate OEE by including a factor known as usability and a relation is developed to evaluate the earning capacity of six big losses with incremental improvement in OEE as an extension to the maturity of OEE. Furthermore, a framework is proposed for implementing the OEE methodology to enhance overall equipment performance. [Submitted 30 April 2007; Revised 12 October 2007; Accepted 17 December 2007]