Maximal Capacity/Output or Demand?

Q: Lean does not strive for maximum output of the machine but rather producing to customer demand.

Arno Koch •    Sure! What does the customer want? The right quality for the best price at the moment he needs it. Right? Question is: How to do so?

• Would it help if your machines would run when you need them?
• Would it help if it had the output performance what it was designed for, so you can produce cheap and quickly?
• Would it help if you would produce zero defects?

Right? OEE makes visible where it is NOT like that….

What means ‘Lean’? It means: Using Muda glasses: detecting all your losses and solve them. OEE detects the losses on the actual spot were it is all about.

Generating money by adding value… where is this done? At the machine… How to look for losses when actually adding value? OEE! Viola…

What to track?

Q: So, output of a cell (that can have a group of machines and people) is tracked hour to hour against takt time and downtime recorded and addressed as a part of the cells environment. Wouldn’t OEE in this case be counterproductive?

Arno Koch •    When you need to use your machine, your machine would be ideal if:
It runs without stopping, at maximum speed with no quality loss.
That is the definition of 100 OEE. Everything else is a loss. Big question is: Where am I losing?? OEE makes this visible and clear. And you are right: Some equipment has over-capacity. So if you need to reduce it’s speed because there is no demand… that is a loss.

But think about it: Are you able to run your machine on maximum speed? Mostly not, and mostly this is not desired. But than, are you able to run the machine in a controlled way on a lower speed, precisely on the needed speed to fulfill demand? Most machine cannot do so either… That is the REAL problem that needs to be solved!

OEE Definitions

OEE Questions