One of the main issues of implementing an OEE software tool is related to people. It is not about creating nice graphs or high-tech automatic data gathering systems.
The first step is creating awareness of the shopfloor people that the tool is implemented to help them and to improve their performance together with their machines. A tool which they donīt understand or simply donīt use is crucified to a failure.

1) The OEE Toolkit is used in more than 400 factories all over the world. Statistically they have improved 15% productivity in just the first year of using the OEE Toolkit. In most manufacturing companies this kind of improvement takes 5 till 10 years.

2) The use of the OEE Toolkit is fast and easy. It has been developed for operators. Less than 5 minutes per shift are necessary to process the data or it happens realtime. Excel sheets are very complicated and create errors if untrained people start using them. Usually very few people in a company know how to deal with these sheets.

3) As a matter of fact it is a very simple to use OEE software and in this way it is possible to involve operators. They will learn about OEE and notice that they have huge influence on the result of this indicator. The shopfloor will have the information in their own hands. They can take responsibility for the results on the right moment and are not depending anymore on delayed information from management. Generally, the focus and the targets of a company or team are much more committed and clearer. All the employees have the same information, speak the same 'language'and are involved in the continuous improvement process. In this way you create an excellent base for other improvement activities.

4) The OEE Toolkit creates information per shift, directly available at the end of the shift. Problems are recognized in an early stage and action will be taken with the necessary emergency. The frequency of up-dating Excel sheets is on weekly or monthly base with all the negative effects of loosing information.

5) The OEE Toolkit will be installed on the network. The installation is a matter of one day. The information is available for every employee (shopfloor till management) and people can make their own analysis. E.g. a shiftleader is interested in information about his shift as a manager is interested in a weekly overall overview.

6) At the end, another practical advantage of the OEE Toolkit. An Excel sheet has some limitation regarding the size of the data. After all, Excel isn't a adequate tool to make complicated calculations. The OEE Toolkit is not just a tool to registrate the OEE data but even more a tool to analyze and visualize the data. It is possible to make analysis with the parameters shift, equipment, product, team and period of time in just a few seconds. The information has detailed focus on the waste and it is possible to analyze trends over a long period of time (years).