OEE Improvement Strategy
Your OEE optimization approach must include a method for measuring downtime, rejections, and cycle times 24/7. OEE, or Overall Equipment Effectiveness, is a fantastic idea that informs you how much waste is on your shop floor in a single number. It’s just the ratio of what you actually produced to what you could have produced — the actual output to theoretical maximum capacity. It’s a straightforward indicator of your profitability and return on investment. Increased OEE leads to increased profitability.
Availability: The percentage of planned running time available for production is known as availability. Unplanned and planned downtime fall under this type of losses.
Unplanned downtime occurs when equipment is scheduled to operate but is unable to do so due to unplanned circumstances. Equipment breakdowns, unplanned maintenance, a shortage of operators or resources etc.
Planned downtime occurs when equipment is set for production but is unable to do so due to planned circumstances. Changeover, tooling adjustment, cleaning, scheduled maintenance, and quality inspection are just a few examples.
Performance: The ratio of the number of components produced to the theoretical maximum number of components that might have been produced in the period the machine was running. Inspection, insert changes, tool breakage, and other factors might create a difference between the start and end of a cycle.
Quality: The percentage of components that pass quality inspection compared to the total number of components produced. The number of components rejected is the difference. On the shop floor, OEE allows you to measure and reduce waste. It’s a single number that everyone understands, from the machine operator to the President. It may be tracked and improved on month to month.
Example:
- Available time in a day = 20 hours (short feast breaks and shift changes)
- Running time = 15 hours (5 hours lost because of breakdowns, setup change)
- Theoretical production=220 parts
- Actual production=200
- Parts Good production=180
- Availability= 15/20 = 75
- Performance= 200/220 = 9
- Quality=180/200=9
- OEE = A x P x Q = 0.75 x 0.9 x 0.9 = 61
This figure indicates that only 61% of the available capacity is being utilized, with the remaining 39% being wasted. That’s terrible, but it’s a lot better than the usual shop floor. In terms of return on investment, 61% OEE is equivalent to paying for a banana and receiving just 3/5 of it.
You can’t improve your OEE unless you measure and track it, as well as its components A, P, and Q, on a regular basis. Your OEE optimization approach must include a Machine Monitoring System that tracks Production, Machine Downtime, and Rejections automatically.
Decoding TEEP (Total Equipment Effective Performance)
What is TEEP (Total Equipment Effective Performance)?
My security guard is willing to guard my house 24hours a day, but I tell him to guard my house for only 12 hours. OEE measures how effectively he is doing the job in 12 hours. TEEP, whereas, measures the same, and in addition, also measures the extent of my stupidity in stating him to work only 12 hours a day while he was willing to work for 24 hours straight.
Losses on the shop floor can be classified as Equipment losses and Schedule losses. Loss occurred when the machine is scheduled to run are called as Equipment loss. We can measured it by OEE.
Schedule losses are concerned to the period when the machine was not scheduled to run but was still available to do so. For example, Lunch and tea breaks, non-working shifts, holidays, and no orders. This is measured as Utilization.
OEE vs. TEEP
- TEEP considers both equipment and schedule losses, i.e. OEE & Utilization
- OEE measures how efficiently you spent your scheduled production time
- TEEP measures how efficiently you utilized the entire calendar time
TEEP calculation
- Utilization = Planned Production Time divided by Total Available Calendar Time
- TEEP = OEE and Utilization multiplied
Case 1
A machine’s OEE is 70 %. It runs 24 hours a day without a break, 5 days a week.
The Utilization is 5/7, or 71.42 %.
TEEP = 100 x ((OEE/100) x (Utilization/100)) = 50 %
Case 2
A machine’s OEE is 60 %.
It works 12 hours a day, with lunch and tea breaks totaling 1.5 hour, 6 days a week, the Utilization is (10.5 x 6)/(24 x 7) = 37.5 %
TEEP = 100 x ((OEE/100) x (Utilization/100)) = 22.5 %
Action point:
If I take out a bank loan to purchase a machine, the bankers expect to be paid the principle + interest on the loan every month. They don’t care how long I operate the machine. If I only run the machine for 12 hours a day, my revenue is half of what it might be if I operated it 24 hours a day. If orders are not a limitation, it makes sense for me to operate my machine for longer periods of time — 24 hours, across breaks, and so on. TEEP makes more sense as a measure of my capacity to repay the bank loan than OEE. The TEEP definition, TEEP computation and OEE vs. TEEP differences are therefore important to understand.
Industry 4.0 standard?!
The term Industry 4.0 standard is meaningless. There is no specific designed criteria by which you can claim, “This system complies with the Industry 4.0 standard.” Industry 4.0 is simply a term for a type of automation defined by the collection, transfer, and analysis of data via sensors connected to machines, the internet, and the cloud.
However, Industry 4.0 is based on a set of design principles:
Interoperability: A system’s or component’s ability to work well with other systems or components.
Information transparency: The ability to collect and process machinery activity using electronic sensors for other uses.
Technical assistance: First, the ability to assist people by reporting and informing them so that they can make decisions. Second, the ability to assist people by completing unpleasant, tedious, or dangerous jobs.
Decentralized decisions: The ability to decide and execute tasks as autonomously as feasible. Decisions and duties are only delegated to humans when they become particularly complex or have conflicting objectives.
The extent to which each of these principles are implemented can vary, and will likely rise as technology advances in the next years.
There are several standards for the various components of Industry 4.0 like sensors, cloud, IoT, etc. and how they are work like protocols, securities, etc. but there are no specific standard that states “This is Industry 4.0 and this is not”. If there is any system that follows the design principles listed above, that is Industry 4.0
230 years ago, in Industry 1.0 there were no specific standards revolving around the number of machines run on steam and steam used. Similar to that, seen today, there is no set rigid conformance to Industry 4.0 standards.
Calculation of OEE
There are innumerous factors that affect the OEE performance of the company. The main factor in OEE is downtime in manufacturing process. Downtime is defined as the time when a process was intended to execute but did not. This includes unloading / loading of parts, inspection, setup changes, breakdowns, etc. OEE is not just a number for any organization, but it’s a mirror for decision taker to improve and evaluate the performance of the shop floor. It’s not a number that you achieve and sit, relax, but it’s a number that you constantly strive to improve.
Multiple organizations consider unloading / loading, inspection, tool change, setup change downtime as a part of the process but not as downtime. This contradicts the logic about using OEE. It inflates the OEE figure artificially, yet it is worthless.
Availability = Run time divided by Planned Productive Time
Run time = Planned Productive Time minus Downtime
Here’s why you should treat ALL downtimes as downtimes
One can get an artificially high availability of 95% by excluding certain downtime and increasing the numerator in the availability calculation. As a result, one fails to root for a scope of improvement and ends up sitting back and relaxing.
Assume that the setup time for a CNC lathe component is 2 hours. If I don’t consider this as a downtime, this setup time will remain constant for years. If I consider it as a downtime, I will continue trying to decrease it by using quick change tooling, automatic tool pre setter, etc. and similar practice with other downtimes.
There are so many formulas available for calculation of availability (A), performance (P), quality (Q) and OEE. The OEE formula is differ from organization to organization as per their process.
Action point:
Rather than creating an artificially high OEE number, patting ourselves on the back, and sitting around complacently, we must obtain genuine OEE figures and work to increase it.
What is Industry 4.0?
In actuality, your requirements determine on your definition of Industry 4.0 and there is no standard definition. It is the TREND in manufacturing technology and processes toward automation and data interchange, which includes cyber-physical systems (CPS), Internet of Things (IoT), and cloud computing, with software automating many of the choices that people used to make.
At its most basic level, Industry 4.0 has mainly works on the components like data – which is directly collected from machines and inbuilt sensors of machine and software – which converts that raw data into information for decision making which further helps the CEO of the company to improve productivity and OEE.
There are several key design principles that make up Industry 4.0:
Interoperability: A system or component’s ability to work well with other systems or components
Information transparency: The ability to collect and process machinery activity using electronic sensors for other uses
Technical assistance: First, the ability to assist people by reporting and informing them so that they can make decisions. Second, the ability to assist people by completing unpleasant, tedious, or dangerous jobs
Decentralized decisions: The ability to decide and execute tasks as autonomously (human-independent) as feasible. Decisions and duties are only delegated to humans when they become particularly complex or have conflicting objectives
In summary, Industry 4.0 refers to any industrial automation system that uses sensors linked to machines, the internet, and the cloud to record, transfer, and analyze the data. It is a wide term that excludes absolutes or measures such as interoperability, technical assistance, and so on.
Specific Industry 4.0 definition will be based on everything from your pain points, to your budget, to your ability to make culture changes in your organization as well as the benefits you see coming from different approaches. The goal of this exercise is to get you thinking about how you define success for yourself and what experiences, resources, and connections might be needed to achieve that.
What Industry 4 is NOT:
- The Industry 4.0 Standard is a myth: Industry 4.0 begins when you link your machine to your computers and can view what it is doing at any time.
- There is nothing like ‘Compliant Industry 4.0’: After you’ve connected your machines to your PCs, you may choose which features to add based on the advantages you observe from each.
- Industry 4.0 has NO LIMITS: You may expand your system’s capabilities in any way you like.
- There are no technologies that your system must include: There is a widespread misperception that additive manufacturing (3D printing), virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), robots, and automated machinery are all required components of Industry 4.0. This is incorrect.
Industry 4.0: BREAKING THE JARGONS
There are multiple terms related to Industry 4.0. Professionals associated directly/indirectly with Industry 4.0 are supposed to know about these terms and jargons. This blog is especially for the users who are puzzled by the terms and jargons thrown at them while attempting to figure out what Industry 4.0 is, and how can it assist, and how much does it cost.
As with any equipment, portions of Industry 4.0 are the domain of the developers of the equipment, while others are the domain of equipment users (this is you). For example, with a CNC machine, you need to know about accuracies, vibration levels, speeds, and so on — in other words, what the machine can accomplish, not how it accomplishes it.
Here is a collection of helpful jargons that you should know, unnecessary stuff that you should avoid, and misinformation that you should avoid.
- What you’re going to know
Cloud:
The term “cloud” refers to Internet-accessible servers as well as the software and databases that operate on those servers. Cloud servers are located in many data centers across the world.
IOT (Internet of Things) and IIOT (Industrial Internet of Things):
The Internet of Things, or IoT, refers to the billions of physical gadgets that are linked to the internet and collecting and exchanging data all over the world. IOT and IIOT are the same thing, however IIOT refers to how IOT is used in industry.
IT infrastructure:
IT equipment required for implementing the Industry 4.0 system on your shopfloor: IT maintenance staff, recurring IT maintenance cost, LAN (wired/Wi-Fi) in the shop floor, Server (with A/C, physical security, backups, UPS), etc.
Digitalization:
The use of digital technology to modify a company model and generate new revenue and value-producing opportunities is known as digitalization. It is the transition to a digital business.
- These are things that only software developers worry about, but not you
Cyber physical system:
Cyber-Physical Systems (CPS) are systems that integrate computer, networking, and physical processes.
Big data:
The large volume of data – both structured and unstructured – that inundates an organization on a daily basis is referred to as big data.
Analytics:
The scientific process of discovering and communicating important patterns in data is known as analytics.
Artificial Intelligence (AI):
Artificial intelligence (AI) is a broad field of computer science that aims to build smart machines that can perform activities that would typically require human intelligence.
Machine learning (ML):
The science of teaching computers to learn and accomplish things by themselves without being explicitly programmed to do so.
- Unless they are a part of your operation, you don’t need to know this
For some inexplicable reason, these technologies are (misguidedly) seen as integral to Industry 4.0, and are frequently discussed alongside Industry 4.0 by Experts in speeches and writings. Additive manufacturing, virtual reality, and robotics are a few of their favorites. They make it sound like Industry 4.0 is only possible if you include them in your manufacturing processes.
Additive manufacture:
Additive Manufacturing (AM) is an appropriate name for the technologies that create 3D items by adding layer upon layer of material, whether it’s plastic, metal, or concrete. Additive manufacturing is NOT required for Industry 4.0, and 3D printing machines are not required for Industry 4.0 deployment in your firm.
Robotics:
Industry 4.0 does not necessitate the use of robots. Incorporating Industry 4.0 into your business does not need the use of robots.
High degrees of automation:
It’s possible to have a large number of manually operated machines. All of your material handling might be manual, and manual intervention might be required in every aspect of your business. Industry 4.0 does not necessitate high automation. This is not required for Industry 4.0 deployment in your company.
Virtual truth (VR):
Virtual Reality is a three-dimensional, computer-generating environment with which a human can explore and interact.
Augmented reality (AR):
Augmented reality overlaps the physical world with digital information. For example, you point your mobile phone camera to a machine part, the software will detect the item and provide precise information about the component to be used or serviced.
Action point:
Industry 4.0 is just a term that refers to the automation of data capture, transfer and analysis by means of machine-connected sensors, the Internet and the cloud. Please use the rules above and make your discussions with professionals associated to Industry 4.0 meaningful, crisp, and swift.
CNC Machine Monitoring – Data collection methods
Accumulation of data concerned to a machine’s status is a vital part of CNC machine monitoring. This is accomplished by various techniques and also depends on various characteristics possessed by the machine.
Technique 1: Data Transfer using macro calls – over the RS232 Serial Interface
For example, on a Fanuc or Haas machine when a cycle begins/ends, or the spindle is turned on/ off, data is sent out over the CNC machine’s serial port using the DPRNT command. Serial-to-LAN converters connect the machine’s serial port to a server over a wired or wireless network. Data is transferred to the server, and reports are shown on local network PCs.
Features:
- Long establishment time due to LAN and RS232 port connections
- Macro B (or same) option is expensive
- Restricted to CNC machines that have Fanuc Macro B choice or same
- IT infrastructure is required, including cabling, serial or LAN hardware, a server, and an IT professional
- The establishment of network has a high initial cost as well as a high maintenance cost.
- Because of the diversity of equipment involved – cabling, LAN hardware, and server – there is a high risk of downtime. If any of these fail, the system as a whole collapses. Because everything is visible, it is also vulnerable to harm
- Macro calls must be included in every program. It does not function if individuals forget to insert them or purposefully do not insert them
- Machine mobility is limited – moving machines inside your shop will require rewiring the serial connection from the machine as well as the LAN cabling from the machine to the server. Machine monitoring stays unavailable until the period of rewiring lasts, which usually takes a few days.
Technique 2: Data Transfer using the machine’s Ethernet Port
The ethernet port on the system is used to send data. Over a wired or Wi-Fi network on the shop floor, the machine’s ethernet port is connected to a server through serial-LAN converters. Data is transferred to the server, and reports are visible on local network PCs – Or, data is sent to the cloud, and reports followed are made visible on the internet, on a PC, tablet, or smartphone.
Features:
- It is essential for the machine to be able to communicate through Ethernet
- Long establishment time due to LAN and cabling connections
- A wide range of data may be collected, including spindle power, FRO status, spindle temperature, and so on
- The network has a high initial cost as well as a high maintenance cost
- Machines that are newer than 2015 are excluded
- IT infrastructure is required, including cabling, serial or LAN hardware, a server, and IT professional
- Because of the diversity of equipment involved – cabling, LAN hardware, and server – there is a high risk of downtime
- The system’s mobility is limited; moving machines inside your shop requires rewiring the machine’s LAN connections. Using Wi-Fi LAN can help with this.
Technique 3: Monitoring the status of signals at machine’s relays
This is accomplished with the help of a sensor that monitors digital signal lines from the CNC machine’s PLC. Send the data to the cloud directly. The hardware sensor examines the state of relays to determine cycle start/end, spindle on/off, and other parameters. The sensor sends data straight to the cloud via mobile phone network. Reports are visible over the internet on a PC, tablet, or mobile phone.
Features:
- Installation within 40 minutes – Which is very less
- There is no need for IT infrastructure, and hence no need for IT maintenance.
- Only works with machines that have 24V digital output signals
- There will be no downtime due to IT equipment failure
- Because the sensor hardware is contained within the machine control panel and is not accessible from the outside, it cannot be tampered with
- There are no initial or recurrent costs for IT infrastructure and maintenance
- Machine’s mobility is very high. The sensor hardware follows the machine and begins monitoring the moment it is turned on in its new location
- Cycle start/end, spindle start/stop, and machine failure are the only types of data that may be obtained. Program number, feed rate override status, spindle temperature, and other information are unavailable.
The comparison:
Because of the expense, installation time, and lack of dependability, Technique 1 is the least desired. It is no longer in use.
Technique 2 provides the most information, but it is only available on newer machines and requires LAN connectivity.
Technique 3 offers the lowest cost and installation time, as well as the maximum reliability, but it fails at tracking internal machine characteristics.
Autobits Industry 4.0 is perfect for CNC machine monitoring. It supports both Technique 2 and 3.
Role of a CEO in Industry 4.0 implementation
Advancement and Transformation are the truth of today’s fast paced world. The world is moving ahead, and at a lightning speed. Today whatsoever fails at keeping up gets left behind. Change, has ceased to exist as a choice and is now but a necessity.
This lightening sharp nature of present has come up as a challenge for businesses and CEO’s. The essentials have increased. Today, for the CEO of a manufacturing company essentials apart from finance, marketing, and planning have outgrown. Today, more than ever, for the CEO of any manufacturing company, developing a high-performance team, leading it, and overlooking operations ensuring consistent delivery of high-quality products to maximize profits has become vital. Now is the time of Industry 4.0, and it is here.
An Industry 4.0 framework gathers data directly from machines – development, downtime, uptime, efficiency, maintenance, and human resources – and displays it to decision makers or sends it to other applications for processing. It gathers a large amount of data, analyses it, and presents it to decision makers at different levels of the company. Different numbers at different levels. These figures must be used to boost productivity.
Industry 4.0, which is the fourth industrial revolution, is the ongoing automation of traditional manufacturing and industrial practices, using modern smart technology. Now, your whole process will be seamless thanks to it. If properly implemented and used, it will reveal the truth about what is going on in your business.
In one of the companies utilizing AUTOBITS 4.0, for instance, the CEO completely designated the work of Industry 4.0 execution to the shop head. The CEO had nothing to do with it. AUTOBITS has configurable formulae for calculating OEE, and the shop head insisted on using ALL downtime in the OEE estimates, resulting in perfect “world-class” OEE numbers reaching 85%. For example, if a normal component unload/load time is 1 minute, a 10-minute downtime is considered part of the cycle rather than 9 minutes. The same can be said for setup times. The company is deceiving itself by relying on misleading productivity figures, and it is squandering a golden opportunity to increase profits.
Every organization, at every level, has two types of people. First is the Transparency enthusiast and second is the Transparency Despiser. Here the Transparency Enthusiast is a self-motivated individual who thrives for the best, is secure in his abilities, and sees transparency as an opportunity to change things even further whereas the Transparency Despiser is an individual with low skill and motivation whose longevity in the company depends on feeding fake efficiency statistics before the hierarchy as feeding reality would result to addressing issues which they lack the ability to confront.
Industry 4.0 system aids leaders to base their decisions on real-time information. You, as the CEO, are inspiring the transparency lover and making life tough for the transparency hater, pushing the latter to develop his motivation and skills by becoming active in the implementation of Industry 4.0 and then closely monitoring it. As a result, by being actively involved in the development and operation of Industry 4.0, you can improve both the quality of your operations and the performance of your team.
You must be heavily involved at first, then gradually decrease your involvement. You must examine efficiency figures, ask people to take action, and track the actions’ progress. Efficiency metrics can be anything you want, depending on your target area – OEE, spindle use, rejections, downtime, and so on.
Here’s a blueprint for a CEO’s job in implementing Industry 4.0:
Months 1-2:
- Review the previous day’s productivity numbers every morning – 30 minutes, every day
Month 3-forever:
- Review the previous week’s productivity numbers every Monday morning – 1 hour, per week
- Look at long-term patterns in efficiency numbers on the first of the month – 2 hours, every month
Effective AUTOBITS installations have seen one or more of the following advantages: Despite increased sales, no new machine acquisitions have been made for at least a year. OEE has doubled, consumable costs have decreased significantly (energy, combustion gases), workers have switched to working two shifts instead of three (16 hours instead of 24), and manpower costs have decreased. Both of these things, of course, lead to profits.
Industry 4.0 is a great friend of the CEO, and the CEO’s position is indeed crucial in its implementation for success.
In-car telemetry solutions
What if your car knows your driving habits better than you? What if it is clever enough to track location and automatically sends an alert to your family and hospital when your car crashes?
All these is possible with the use of In-Car Telemetry which is a vehicle-based system that incorporates data logging, satellite positioning, and data communication to a back-office application. When FM is layered with vehicle telemetry, its fetched data can provide a range of solutions depending on the customers’ requirements. It can provide cost-efficient, fast and reliable on-road solutions.
But to use this, we need global access to cellular connectivity without incurring roaming charges as you can drive your car literally anywhere, in any city and country. It is important to know what the car can tell you. Since ages, it has been tracking fuel consumption and also notifying about the same. Telemeters can now remotely extract and display the data in a well-formatted manner with consistent connectivity at any location, from any system.
Benefits of the technology “In-car”:
- Track the drivers driving habits.
- Check the amount of fuel in your car so that it never run out of fuel again.
- Being able to monitor all vitals of your car such as- tyre pressure, engine health, battery health, oil quality, Air filter remaining life automatically.
- Send all the engine data to your preferred garage and let them diagnose the car remotely.
- Call for help in distress.
- Imagine your garage giving you a call for service because you have only 200kms left to get the free service.
- Get a notification every time your kid over-speeds your precious car or goes out of the city.
Industry 4.0 – The Journey
Though both are tightly related, most of the times, Internet of Things(IoT) and Industry 4.0 are thought to be same. But there’s much difference between them. Lets first take a look at origin of Industry 4.0.
At the end of eighteenth century, first mechanical loom came into existence. Innovation began thereon and many other mechanical machines were developed. All of these were ran by human power and were highly dependent on the energy and force of humans.
I’m sure you would have an old memory where your grandparents would have told you about ‘their times’ and the hardships they had to face. One of my such memory is when every week a man roamed around the streets to polish the blades of kitchen knives. He did this with a self made machine on his cycle. Pedaling the cycle helped to polish the blades. Many such machines like steam generator, water geysers, etc were prototyped and developed. This era can be termed as Industry 1.0
Industry 2.0 came into existence with the invention of electricity. It was in early twentieth century when this happened. It was the same time when assembly line was developed by Henry Ford. It was a huge break through for the industries as it accelerated mass production, helping to reduce production cost.
Next revolution began with the development of computers which is said to be Industry 3.0. Machines were merged with computers. Automation came into existence. Machines completed tasks without human intervention. It increased the accuracy and speed drastically.
Since 2010, Industries are fast growing. Lots of upgrades have been made to the way machines work. And currently we are at a stage where human commands aren’t needed anymore. Machine commands other machines. With the help of Internet and cyber-physical systems, communication between machines have been made possible and is emerging to be next big thing called Internet 4.0.