During my G-Lab team's first day on-site with Superflux, Nigeria's largest secure printing company, we met with the management team to learn more about the operation. We asked what data is captured, how they price their product, and what their cost structure looks like. It became clear that sound data was hard to come by at Superflux - in fact, one employee explained, "in many cases the person with the loudest voice is assumed to be right." Developing a more objective measure of the Superflux operation became the focal point of our project.
Throughout the next three weeks we collected data from every stage of the operation in order to establish a metric to monitor the efficiency of the manufacturing process. This metric, known as Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE). Based on equipment availability, performance, and quality, OEE helps managers visualize performance and conduct root-cause analysis as an operation changes.
OEE = Availability x Performance x Quality
Availability = Operating Time / Planned Production Time
Performance = Actual Operating Speed / Ideal Operating Speed
Quality = Good Pieces / Total Pieces
By digitizing hand-written log books from each stage of the operation, my team developed a model to easily calculate and report OEE on an ongoing basis. OEE enables Superflux to identify changes in its operation and monitor improvement over time. During our final presentation at Superflux, we encouraged the management team to continue collecting and analyzing data to monitor performance, identify opportunities for improvement, and ultimately develop a culture of continuos improvement.
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