Design and Implementation of Systematic Production Analysis - Collecting and analysing production data to monitor and improve OEE using a commercial production monitoring software

Abstract: The purpose of this master thesis project was to design and implement a systematic procedure to analyse and improve OEE for Nolato Meditech using a specific commercial production monitoring system, as well as solving operational system issues and evaluating the performance of the system. The method employed consisted of learning the software, adapting it to comply with the given production environment, collecting appropriate production disturbance reasons and investigating current organisational structures at the company. Interviews and observations were mostly used to gather the information needed. The project is mainly based on systematic production analysis (SPA) using OEE as the main KPI. Deliverables include specific system settings to be used, an action plan to solve the operational system issues, specific production disturbance reasons, suggested organisational alterations to facilitate follow-up of OEE, complementing roles and responsibilities, suggested education and training for production personnel as well as an evaluation of the production monitoring system. It is concluded that Nolato MediTech has all the prerequisites for succeeding in implementing a systematic monitoring of OEE. The specific system is deemed sufficient for this purpose, although not optimal since it cannot categorise reduced production rate, which means losing one of the cornerstones in SPA. The system will use previously existing reject reasons as well as a set of downtime reasons for each production department that has been designed by the authors. Follow-up regarding OEE and its underlying causes will be done on a daily and weekly basis according to a procedure suggested by the authors to visualise production disturbances and trends.