OEE Six Loss Countermeasures & Cheat Sheet

In our last lesson, we introduced the six losses of OEE and how they each relate to Availability, Performance and Quality.

Understanding these areas of loss can help operations teams pinpoint the area of focus to improve their Overall Equipment Effectiveness score, but each area of loss will require a different playbook. The following table further explains the six losses and various tactics to address each:

Six Loss Category

OEE Measure

Reason for loss

Countermeasures

PLANNED DOWNTIME/
EXTERNAL UNPLANNED

Availability

Changeovers
Planned maintenance
Material shortages
Labour shortages

> Planned Downtime
Management

> 5S Workplace Organisation

> ABC Planning

BREAKDOWN LOSS
> 5MINS

Availability

Equipment failure
Major component failure
Unplanned maintenance

> Root cause analysis

> Asset Care

MINOR STOP LOSS
< 5MINS

Performance

Fallen product
Obstruction
Blockages
Misalignment

> IFA Opportunity Analysis

> 5S Workplace Organisation

> Management Routines (SIC)

> Line Minor stop audits

SPEED LOSS

Performance

Running lower than rated speed
Untrained operator not able to run at nominal speed
Misalignment

> IFA Opportunity Analysis

> Line Balance Optimisation

> Management Routines (SIC)

PRODUCTION REJECTS

Quality

Product out of specification
Damaged product
Scrap

> IFA Opportunity Analysis

> Error proofing

REJECTS ON STARTUP

Quality

Product out of spec. at start of run
Scrap created before nominal
running after changeover
Damaged product after planned maintenance activity

> Planned Downtime Mgmt.

> 5S Workplace Organisation

> Standard Op. Procedures

> Precision settings