Q: I was wondering if there are companies that have used the OEE information for Six Sigma projects and what were the results?

Robert Strout •    Most industries are striving to eliminate waste. I have been using OEE software. Our company started Six Sigma and used the OEE information for the basis of it’s initial projects. We found that the information from our system was lacking because of the general areas of loss. The toolkit would allow a accurate definition of losses. I was wondering if other company has used the OEE information for 6 Sigma projects and what were the results?

Arno Koch •    I worked for a company producing baby milk powder. They monitor their quality using 6 sigma principles. To stabilize their process they implemented process teams. Those process teams focus on several performance parameters; the OEE parameters are used to reduce the losses and get the manufacturing process stable. TPM is their framework to create stable machines.

They concluded that OEE is very useful to get shopfloor steering information there where the process can be improved: at the shopfloor!