Measurement of overall equipment effectiveness as a basis for TPM activities

Assessment of disturbance data from production equipment provides valuable information for improving productivity. To implement total productive maintenance (TPM) it is necessary to assess the magnitude of different types of production losses, in order to direct activities and allocate resources in an optimal way. In many enterprises, the focus is directed towards major time losses due to break-downs rather than minor losses in speed and time. A method for implementing data collection is to start gradually by a simple model and develop this to a combined model with computerised systems and manual recording. This gives both an exact assessment of the magnitude of the disturbance and a deeper understanding of the reason for losses. According to about 20 cases, the overall equipment effectiveness was only around 55 per cent. Further, it is quite clear that performance losses are the dominating ones. If the production process is new to the company it is hypothesised that overall equipment effectiveness will be lower than if the company is already familiar with production process.