Manufacturers are battling to improve profitability, and efficiency is often the first place they set their sights. Successful companies already have a clear understanding of how their people, equipment and process are performing–and many are now seeking to sharpen the image with timely and accurate information that they won’t get with clipboards and spreadsheets. Moreover, getting information in the hands of front-line workers helps them make better decisions, faster. OEE tools will give you the leverage you need to take anecdotal performance results, gauge your actual operation, and measure every effort you make to improve.

There are thousands of OEE software tools that will give you a closer look at your downtime and waste offenders. Any one of them will give you actionable intelligence and insight into where to invest time and money to improve performance.

Now is the best time for you to invest in OEE. Here is why:

1. Take advantage of a sharper image

Downtime and waste are stealing your profits–and not just one dime at a time. Every minute of downtime adds up. Get better visibility of every stop and every first pass reject. How many extra overtime hours did you have to work to make up for the losses? Stop the losses by taking an unbiased and thorough look at what is happening by taking action to stop downtime and waste. How much more profit would you make if you could recover one shift of production per month?

2. Create an improvement plan that makes a difference

Once you know exactly how much downtime and waste is stealing, you can make the right investment in the resources and actions required to stop it. We conducted free trials of OEE systems in several plants and in every case, operators, managers, and executives were surprised by the number of first pass rejects, production stops and the true duration of downtime events that happen every day. So much so that it changed the focus of their downtime reduction strategies. They are looking much closer at causes and addressing problems with materials, process issues, and training that weren’t part of their initial plan.

3. Validate your investment decisions

Domestic and geopolitical uncertainty tends to tighten the purse strings of companies both big and small, but capital investment is an important part of any plan to increase a manufacturers productivity. Know that your investment is a measured one by having a data driven process to help retire inefficient assets and optimize manufacturing helps increase profitability. With the veil of assumption lifted by a system that gives you a sharper image of performance, you can have data to help prioritize and validate your investment decisions. 

In our free trials, clients found their OEE to be under 50%. We must assume they have performed this way for some time, so the ROI of previous investments has likely been much slower than they hoped.You will know where your assets are underutilized and what can be done to make the most of the investments you have already made. And when you do buy new equipment, your OEE system will measure its performance too, so you get the best ROI.

These are just 3 reasons now is a great time to invest in OEE. You may have more urgent reasons. Get yourself a system that gives your team the information they can use to crush downtime and waste. Measure your performance and make strides to improve each day.