5 production indicators you should know

To successfully position themselves in a rapidly changing industry, business leaders need to closely monitor how their business works.

Production indicators are parameters to be monitored regularly in order to provide the necessary interventions to maintain the competitiveness of the company.

The cost of production downtime

The cost of production downtime varies depending on the machine that is affected by breakdown. If it is a bottleneck machine, the downtime would directly affect production. In fact, the bottleneck machine downtime causes production downtime and direct loss of sales. Don’t forget that maintenance fees are added to this cost. A chain production downtime directly results in a loss of sales and therefore profitability. That’s why it is wise to implement action plans to make up for any delivery delay caused by downtime.

The overall operations effectiveness

The overall operations effectiveness (OOE) is a parameter that calculates the machines’ return. It is obtained by several formulas:

OOE= (overall operations effectiveness) x loading rate

Loading rate is the working time divided by the workshop opening time.

OOE= starting rate (percentage of working time the machine was in operation) x efficiency time (efficient time divided by the starting time) x rate of complying products (report of compliant parts from the first attempt on the total number of parts)

The OOE (The overall operations effectiveness)

This parameter helps to monitor the rate of machines’ use in order to implement the necessary optimizations. It is a company-specific parameter that varies over time to indicate production loss.

OOE= actual production /maximum theoretical production

Spare production capacity

This indicator allows the company to estimate its production potential and its theoretical performance. In fact, this parameter assesses the non-use of maximum production capacity of the company. Here is the formula:

Spare production capacity = standard volume available – real volume produced over a specific period.

Average production cycle time

The average production cycle is an indicator of paramount importance in the evaluation of the company’s production capacities. In fact, it evaluates the cycle that extends from the production order to the completion of the order. Here is the formula to calculate it:

Average production cycle time= sum of production cycle times/ number of planned orders

What solution to help you achieve your indicators?

Implementing a digital work instructions solution allows operators to do it right the first time. This reduces non-quality and therefore increases the overall return of the company.

Digital work instructions also give operators the autonomy to report production data. These very data must fuel the company’s continuous improvement processes.