OEE Analysis and Root Cause Tracking

The Problem

The IGear OEE Analysis & Root Cause Tracking Application provides key performance indicators that are utilized to improve efficiency, quality and delivery.  This application minimizes inefficiency by ensuring optimal use of assets and providing immediate feedback.  This is made possible with IGear’s unique ability to integrate every machine asset in a manufacturing environment, leading to accurate analysis of trends.

Manufacturers are often limited in their ability to determine when, how and why a machine goes down or if a machine is performing to its potential.  Scrap is often manual in nature and rarely understood.  Additionally, there is a mixture of technologies on the plant floor that do not communicate with each other or with the business systems.  In summary, there are islands of data on the plant floor and management personnel are in the dark with respect to machine performance and improvement opportunities.

The Solution

It is critical for manufacturers to look at their plant’s Overall Equipment Effectiveness, or OEE, to understand machine performance and return on investment.  The IGear OEE Analysis and Root Cause Tracking Application establishes an automated data collection interface to each asset on the plant floor, while allowing operator input to provide a comprehensive assessment.  Data is collected, analyzed, and instantly driven to communication systems, displays, and IGear’s web interface. The result is targeted action to resolve problems as they occur and a greater understanding of improvement opportunities.

Features

• Automated machine interface for data collection
• Automatic and operator entry of downtime and scrap information via existing PLC HMIs, wireless handhelds, thin clients
• Machine interlocking to ensure operator login and downtime root cause entry
• Data transport of scrap and production quantities to ERP systems

IGear Advantages

1. Hardware independent (does not require IGear data collection hardware)
2. Accessible from any networked computer
3. Expandable by customer to add assets and reports
4. Expandable to include SPC charting, traceability, error proofing and other applications
5. Low upfront licensing and deployment pricing model
6. System can be hosted on or offsite
7. Conducive to multiple plant deployments and corporate rollup of plant data

Data Collection

The IGear DTU provides seamlessly interfaces with PLCs, displays, welders, torque guns, databases, spreadsheets, ERP systems, email servers, ID readers, vision systems and many other technologies.  In cases where an asset is not Ethernet capable, IGear’s GearBox is used as an Ethernet data collection device.

Report Filtering

A report may be keyed off any system variable (i.e., asset, product, operator, shift, production day, data range, etc.).  The IGear Web Framework interface allows users to customize data views and granularity.  All data rolls up through an asset tree structure, presenting common reports for individual assets, lines, areas of the plant and the plant as a whole.

OEE Reporting

This application accommodates manual entry of user-defined OEE variables such as shift schedule and planned downtime. Users may define multiple takt times per asset and may be manually or automatically activated.

Downtime Root Cause & Scrap Entry

This application allows operators to assign downtime root causes and comments to automatically collected downtime events. The IGear solution also accommodates manual entry of scrap data and will, in turn, adjust OEE performance based on user assignment of scrap events.

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