MES, OEE and the main pains of the shop floor
The shop floor is where the end activity of industry takes place. It's the heart of the factory! The acronym "MES" stands for Manufacturing Execution Systems, which are the systems that manage production processes on the shop floor. OEE, Overall Equipment Effectiveness, is one of the areas to be managed in order to ensure that all resources are operating at their maximum power and capacity. Thus, measuring the OEE of your equipment is like assessing whether the heartbeat of this heart is beating at a steady pace. In this article, you will find a detailed differentiation between the terms!
Once it's clear what the role of MES is, what the role of OEE is, how they are related and how they represent something as vital to any industry as the heartbeat to human beings, we've made a list of the SIX main pains on the shop floor. Take pen and paper or your cell phone's notepad and mark which ones you identify with. At the end, we'll give you a diagnosis of what you should do based on how many pains you identify with:
TOP 6: Lack of real-time production monitoring
Stoppages, faulty machines, lack of specific resources. There are so many variables of what can happen on the production line, completely altering planning, that not having a real-time view of everything leaves management and the team unable to take quick action, leading to delays in production orders and impacting on problems such as deadline accuracy and increased costs.
TOP 5: Lack of data for decision-making
If there is no real-time monitoring, the data generated is probably post-production, which can lead to less efficient management. Daily and/or weekly reports and a unified view of production are important prerequisites for efficiency on the shop floor.
TOP 4: Lack of shift performance vision
We know that the shop floor is a highly complex environment and one of the factors for this is the existence of several work shifts. This is because each one will have its own specific characteristics in terms of breaks, inefficiency, missing resources and so on. Another point is that the route often needs to be corrected while the shift is in progress and having real-time data can help monitor efficiency and change the route in good time.
TOP 3: Lack of machine vision of performance
Just like shifts, machines have their own unique characteristics. While some are operating at 100% power, others are suffering downtime due to planned or unplanned stoppages. There are also failures that can occur during production, as well as the operating time that each machine takes. Not knowing this is certainly a pain in the quest for equipment efficiency.
TOP 2: Non-optimal use of productive resources
How many times in your daily life have you noticed that a certain resource could be better used to optimize production? In a world where OEE is properly measured and monitored, these perceptions could occur in less time and action could be taken to deal with the perceived problem.
TOP 1: Ineffective communication
This is a recurring pain in many areas, not just shop floor efficiency. Having all the data in real time and in a unified way can considerably reduce these "communication gaps" that generate so much wasted time and resources.
Do you identify with this ranking? How many of these "top pains" have you marked as pains that you also feel?
▶️ If you only ticked ONE, there is a good chance that you can solve your problem with an internal process alignment.
▶️ If you scored TWO or THREE, your OEE problem is escalating and you need to find a solution as soon as possible.
▶️ If you scored FOUR or more, the equipment efficiency problem on your production line is real and acute and you need to find a solution right now!
Evocon is a combination of IOT and plug in play software to help you understand the behavior of your factory in an easy and intuitive way.
Meet Evocon. Present in more than 56 countries, with more than 500 plants monitored and more than 12 years' experience on the shop floor, this is the ideal technology for gaining real-time insights into your industry quickly and easily.