Packaging Solutions
A new guide from coding and marking specialist Interactive Coding Equipment (ICE) helps to explain the importance and relevance of overall equipment effectiveness (OEE) in ensuring an efficient production line and also the key role coding can play in its successful implementation.
OEE has become something of a ‘buzz’ phrase as manufacturers seek to maximise efficiencies and throughput throughout their processing and packing lines. However, with production line operators under increasing pressure to deliver improvements and enhancements, there is a danger that the introduction of additional systems or measurement tools can be viewed with a degree of suspicion and even considered an obstruction to the completion out of daily tasks.
ICE’s Understanding OEE and its Relevance throughout the Production Line therefore stresses the importance of explaining the many benefits that OEE can bring to individuals in every part of the operation. These can include increased throughput for production managers, greater profitability for the finance team and improved working practices for factory personnel.
The free guide explains the theory behind OEE and how to measure it through the three key criteria of availability, performance and quality. It also provides guidance on ways to improve OEE by identifying reasons behind the six ‘big losses’ that cause inefficiency in manufacturing – breakdowns, set up and adjustments, small stops, reduced speed, start up rejects and production rejects.
In particular, the guide focuses on how ‘must have’ equipment, such as coders and labellers, can still make a significant contribution in these areas. For example, extended service intervals, fast consumable changes and intuitive code creation for reduced errors all help to improve the availability of equipment. Performance of coders has been maximised through the introduction of features that have increased speeds and enhanced long-term reliability. A new generation of coders is also now able monitor and report on the quality of each code as it is produced, ensuring any potential loss of code quality can be identified and rectified before production is affected.
‘OEE can be an invaluable aid to enhancing a company’s efficiency, productivity and profitability,’ commented Chris Simpson, managing technical director at ICE. ‘However, to be most effective, it is vital that its benefits are fully understood by everyone in an organisation. We hope our guide will go some way to demystifying the process and demonstrate how it can be easily adopted.’
This free guide is available to download by visiting https://goo.gl/KRL2P9
