- Evidence suggests that longer run sizes lead to increased overall equipment effectiveness (OEE).
- OEE is a measure of how effectively manufacturing equipment is utilised and is defined as a product of machine availability, machine performance and product quality.
- Increasing run sizes improves availability as a result of less change over time, and performance as a result of less operator inefficiency.
- North America facilities that previously ran at world-class OEE rates, have experienced lower OEE rates due to a move towards reduced lot sizes and shifting large volume production overseas1.
- Shorter run sizes resulted in increased changeover frequency which led to increased planned downtime and reduced asset utilization.
- As a result OEE rates dropped from 85% to as low as 50%1.
