Overall equipment effectiveness measurement of TPM manager model machines in flexible manufacturing environment: a case study of automobile sector

Total productive maintenance (TPM) has provided a quantitative metric tool which is known as overall equipment effectiveness (OEE). OEE provides an efficient and effective way of measuring and analysing the efficiency of a single machine cell or an integrated manufacturing system. The objective of this paper is to highlight the OEE measurement in flexible manufacturing systems of a selected automobile manufacturing plant by enhancing the equipment and plant reliability by eliminating all the losses incurred. In this study, a methodology is presented for analysis of OEE of TPM manager model machines in a selected semi-automated cell. In this paper, an approach is developed to identify and address the losses and failures which are responsible for lowering the OEE. The results show that there was a significant improvement in OEE measurement of TPM manager model machines in the semi-automated cell by addressing the six big losses. The findings of the research determine a significant contribution due to OEE measurement and assessment of losses and therefore were quite useful for the organisation to initiate TPM improvement activities to enhance the overall plant efficiency.