Case Study:
Overall Equipment Effectiveness
(OEE) Implementation
Problem:
A major over-the-counter pharmaceutical manufacturer was seeking to extend the lifespan of fully capitalized equipment while simultaneously increasing its productivity. The goal was to increase the units of production by 25% with minimal new investments.
With this in mind, the client realized that having full visibility into the operating state of the equipment — for both real time reactivity and long term assessment of root outage causes — would allow for high Overall Equipment Effectiveness(OEE). In pursuit of this, as well as superior production efficiency, the client client began a program to understand the requirements, alternatives, and implementation needs for a solution.
Solution:
Endeavor was retained to manage the entire project for the client. This was truly a start to finish effort: Endeavor drove all of the work, from gathering requirements and prioritizing the architecture, to vendor selection and change management. Our team also trained the operators for permanent staff handoff, and guided the technology vendor’s resources towards developing the technical solution.
Endeavor acted as both program manager and functional lead for this project. Our team was responsible for creating a new business process and the required procedures, as well as rolling out the full solution to the shop floor operations staff. During the project, the client embarked on a Lean Journey — Endeavor developed specific materials to integrate the OEE program with the Lean implementation.
Benefit:
Within the first year of rolling out the solution, the client’s OEE increased by 31%. The plants that have implemented the solution have been able bring on additional capacity from underperforming plants, and have increased their total output by 12% — without significant investment in equipment or people. Endeavor’s OEE solution provided the client with a data-rich foundation for continual improvement programs, which have selectively replaced equipment bottlenecks and frequent failure points. The client’s new focus on both OEE and Lean have supported a fundamental shift in culture, from a reactive environment to one of continuous improvement based on data.