For years, senior management has worked to close the gap between the shop floor, and nowhere is the rift any wider than in the leveraging of Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE).

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Executive Guide to
Leveraging OEE

2. Integration has promised a connection from the Shop
Floor to the Top Floor – so where do we stand?
For years, senior management
has worked to close the gap
between the shop floor,
and nowhere is the rift any
wider than in the leveraging
of Overall Equipment
Effectiveness (OEE).

3. We must cross this divide and move beyond a
good enough approach. Too often, plants are
spinning their wheels to collect OEE data –
only to find the information they gather is not
compressed into a strategy to incite change
or create value.
Strategic leaders promote action and
streamline accountability in the plant. Taking
advantage of OEE accomplishes both tasks.
It allows us to reach production goals and
inspire our teams.
More than a calculation – OEE is at the
cornerstone of strategy in continuous
improvement.
Today it is no longer enough to capture data
on equipment effectiveness. This information
must be used to drive change throughout
the production environment. That process
can prove difficult, and consequently, many
plants fall short as they try to harness value
from their OEE calculations.
We will review the most common issues
encountered by senior leadership in driving
business value with OEE and offer several
suggestions that can help us leverage the
strategy aspects of OEE.

4. Manufacturing processes are
typically automated. Ironically, the
information we take out of the
machines is frequently not.
What does this do to data
collection?
It suggests that information on
the availability, performance and
quality of each machine is still
difficult to grasp.
Scrambling to acquire that data
is an ineffective use of time.
Production information is far more
valuable when it is:
• Accurate
• Provided in real-time
Precise data speaks for itself in
importance. Yet, many plants
receive incorrect OEE information
because they gather statistics from
a team member, rather than the
machine itself.
Issue 1:
Automate OEE
Data Collection

5. Tomorrow may be too late to make
changes. Production requires
challenges to be caught and fixed as
they come up, in real-time.

6. Issue 1: Automate OEE Data
Collection - Example
administrator is responsible for
checking the data that was collected
on Monday and producing a report
on Tuesday for the team.
Is this sufficient?
No. Tomorrow may be too late to
make changes. Production requires
challenges to be caught and fixed
as they come up, in real-time. If
performance is down, and negatively
affecting production – the team must
be poised to fix it. This is exactly
where manual efforts fall short.
An operator, alone, typically cannot
tell why an issue has occurred. Often
they do not have access to the data
they would need to determine this
information and, as described in
the scenario above, they may not
even consider the stoppage to be
downtime.
Real-time information is crucial to
efficient manufacturing. It is the only
way to stay in the game – and ahead
of the competition.
Here is an example.
Let’s look at downtime. You may
ask the operator to take down each
stoppage during a shift, on a single
line. Unfortunately, with stoppages
typically averaging 60 seconds or
less, the operator may not see these
little stops as official downtime, or
feel they have the bandwidth to
address each, given there is no need
to call maintenance.
While you can look into these
numbers later on to find out the
starts and stops, you will not have
the detail surrounding the causes.
Manufacturing operations
management software, on the other
hand, relies directly on the machine
to extract the data. It can plug
straight into existing PLCs, HMIs, and
other platforms. This method of OEE
information capture is significantly
more effective than introducing the
challenges associated with human
data collection.
Yet, correct data alone is not enough.
Why? Consider a scenario where we
have software in place.
The right information is gathered
but, perhaps, not consumed
immediately. It may be that a plant

7. Today it is no longer
enough to capture data on
equipment effectiveness.
This information
must be used to drive
change throughout the
production environment.
That process can
prove difficult, and
consequently, many
plants fall short as they
try to harness value from
their OEE calculations.

8. Issue 2: Applying the Metric to
Business Process Improvement
Remember, the aim is to add value
by leveraging OEE to improve
business practices. Consider
assigning direct responsibility to an
Issue Champion who can perform
regular production reviews and
advance plant performance.
Creating a leader and following this
path establishes:
• A common focus – to identify
losses and establish priorities
• Actionable changes – that can
be applied to the areas that are
experiencing issues
These two items have the power to
dramatically impact business and
shape company perception. This is
precisely where OEE generates value
and incites change – by identifying
issues, engaging operations, and
exceeding expectations.
Truly the strategy around OEE must
tie directly to value, or it will fail.
Therefore, the next step is to drive
process improvement and – as with
many initiatives – that requires top-
down support.
Managers must be willing to get
involved to ensure their objectives
are met. These direct efforts shape
the team and produce the focus
required to improve business
processes.
Once your goals and objectives have
been shared, it is time to empower
the team.
Business initiatives must translate
into direct actions on the plant
floor. To do this, see where your
team stands today, benchmark your
current performance, and assign a
leader to cement commitment and
optimize overall efficiency.

9. Consider assigning
direct responsibility to
an Issue Champion who
can perform regular
production reviews
and advance plant
performance, establish
priority, and create
actionable change.

10. How Can OEE Be
Strategic? At the highest
levels, where budgeting
is involved, visualization
becomes key to strategic
decision making.

11. Issue 3: Displaying the Correct
Information Visually with Urgency
What is the Value of Visualization?
If you were to enter a sports bar in
the middle of a football game, where
would your attention be drawn?
Likely, it would land on a large TV
screen, where the action is unfolding.
As a center of the bar – that TV would
demand to be seen.
This concept is also true in the
plant, and helps illustrate the value
of visualization. Real-time OEE
displayed prominently on the plant
floor keeps everyone motivated and
engaged.
Empowering teams to see
measurable, impactful data is a quick
way to put OEE front and center and
display progress toward lean and
TPM (total productive maintenance)
goals.
Here are a few ways to add visual
elements to the factory floor:
• Big screen monitors
• Journaling in real-time
• Production progress bars
• Dashboards that support
lean and TPM
Teams are made consistently aware
of their targets by simply looking at
the colorful cues that appear on the
screen.
Green confirms everything is on
track. Yellow indicates an area
of concern. Red is a critical issue
requiring immediate action.
Information is constantly accessible
and actionable, by the right people,
in real-time. The plant takes on the
same excitement and comradery
experienced just before a game kicks
off.

12. OEE is a Strategy, Not Just
an Equation. More than a
calculation – OEE is at the
cornerstone of strategy in
continuous improvement.

13. Be a Catalyst for Change in the Business
creating transparency throughout the
supply chain.
In recent research, the distribution
of OEE performance was found to
vary across a number of discrete
manufacturing industries, providing
a key benchmarking opportunity for
individuals looking to improve their
efforts3
.
OEE puts power back in the hands
of these innovators. As a measure of
productivity, OEE uniformly connects
a network of plants, reducing critical
areas of waste and redundancy.
The result is vital visibility into every
system on the plant floor – in one,
simple tool. Islands of automation are
eliminated as OEE creates a common
conversation among systems,
capturing the business intelligence
leaders need to make essential
decisions.
How can OEE be strategic?
It is not uncommon for plants to be
issued incremental budgets, where
this year is a reflection of last year’s
expenses, with a little extra added for
estimated growth and inflation.
OEE provides tangible data on plant
equipment and investment needs,
effectively replacing the need for an
incremental budget.
As a metric of loss, Overall Equipment
Effectiveness sheds light on where
to apply resources effectively,
maximizing profit potential in the
planning and budgeting process2
.
Increasingly, Chief Financial Officers
(CFOs) are transforming companies.
A unique opportunity emerges where
CFOs are examining critical needs
using OEE.
Herein lies the opportunity.
Leaders can exist anywhere in the
organization, cutting costs and

14. Now is the time to create
common ground between the
top floor and the shop floor.

15. Clearly the three major issues plants face each day:
• Automating OEE data collection
• Applying the metric to business process improvement
• Displaying the correct information visually
These major issues can be alleviated with a software solution. Quality
management software strengthens the effectiveness of OEE to form a closed-
loop quality environment. It finally crosses that divide we have been waiting to
eliminate.
Now is the time to create common ground between the top floor and the
shop floor. OEE is this conduit and manufacturing operations software is the
supporting structure to keep that bridge in place.
Standing out among these sectors, is the impact that Quality Management Software has on OEE.
As shown above, executives with a software solution (88% OEE) outperformed companies in both
the planning stages (84%) for software, and those with no plans for an implementation (79.5%)4
.

16. Global leaders are taking the steps
to put OEE in place at a strategic
level, using software to accomplish
this goal. In 2012, an international
food company saw a significant
decrease in downtime and
increased a single line’s production
to 4.8 million cans per year using a
leading software solution for OEE
and manufacturing operations:
TrakSYS™.
Their results are displayed in the
chart below.
As an industry leader, this
company promoted action and
streamlined accountability in their
plant, taking advantage of OEE to
accomplish both tasks.
Strategically approaching OEE in
this way allowed the plant to reach
production goals, and inspire their
teams, driving dramatic business
value.
So Who Can
We Look to as
Leaders?

17. A flexible, powerful and real-time
software application, TrakSYS™ was
specifically designed to bring overall
improvement to manufacturing
operations. The software deploys
quickly, integrating with existing
infrastructure to easily interface
with critical systems and enhance
productivity and OEE.

18. Parsec partners with key organizations, like the one above, using
TrakSYS™ to essentially help with:
For the above unnamed international food
company, TrakSYS™ helped to:
• Elevate the quality of products
• Implement real-time operations
management, resulting in:
• 13.5% Increase in Overall Equipment
Effectiveness (OEE)
• 6.36% Improvement to Adjusted
Productivity
• $84,000 Total Labor Savings, Per Line,
in a Single Plant
• Enhance the output and productivity of the
existing equipment in their plant
A flexible, powerful and real-time software
application, TrakSYS™ was specifically designed
to bring overall improvement to manufacturing
operations. The software deploys quickly,
integrating with existing infrastructure to easily
interface with critical systems and enhance
productivity and OEE.
1. Sohal, a., Olhager, J., O’Neill, P., Prajogo, D. (2014)
Implementa-tion of OEE – Issues and Challenges. Retrieved
from: https://www.iei.liu.se/prodek/pic/filarkiv_forskning/
conferences/1.242513/Sohaletal-ImplementationofOEE-
IssuesChallenges-APMS2010.pdf
2. Iannone, R., and Nenni M. (2014). Managing OEE to
Optimize Factory Performance. Retrieved from: http://cdn.
inte-chopen.com/pdfs-wm/42996.pdf
3. Littlefield, M. (2012) Overall Equipment Effectiveness:
Benchmark Data by Industry. Retrieved from: http://blog.
lnsresearch.com/blog/bid/155988/Overall-Equipment-
Effectiveness-Benchmark-Data-by-Industry
4. Shah, M. (2013) Companies With EQMS Outperform
Others in OEE Performance [DATA]. Retrieved from: http://
blog.lnsresearch.com/blog/bid/179538/Companies-With-
EQMS-Outperform-Others-in-OEE-Performance-DATA
Sources

19. TM
About Parsec
Parsec is the developer of TrakSYS™, a proven operations management software
application and solution platform designed to significantly improve manufacturing
processes. Parsec is committed to providing best-in-class products and solutions
to our worldwide community of clients to assist them in optimizing their
manufacturing operations. There are thousands of TrakSYS™ licenses in use
around the globe in a wide variety of Industries.
TrakSYS™ helps manufacturers to maximize asset utilization and efficiency,
increase capacity with no new capital equipment, reduce production costs,
decrease lead time, and improve profitability. For more information about Parsec
and TrakSYS™ please visit the corporate website at www.parsec-corp.com.
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