What is OEE (Overall Equipment Effectiveness)?

 📊 What is OEE (Overall Equipment Effectiveness)?

OEE is a key Lean & TPM metric used to measure how effectively a machine or process is utilized compared to its full potential.

OEE = Availability × Performance × Quality

🕒 Availability

Measures losses due to downtime

Breakdowns

Changeovers

Unplanned stops

Formula:

Run Time ÷ Planned Production Time

🔧 Focus: Reduce downtime and improve maintenance discipline

⚡ Performance

Measures speed losses

Slow cycles

Minor stoppages

Running below ideal speed

Formula:

(Ideal Cycle Time × Total Count) ÷ Run Time

🚀 Focus: Run the process at designed speed

✅ Quality

Measures defect losses

Scrap

Rework

Formula:

Good Count ÷ Total Count

🎯 Focus: Right-first-time production

📌 Example OEE Calculation

Availability = 87.5%

Performance = 83.3%

Quality = 95%

👉 True OEE = 87.5 × 83.3 × 95 = 69.2%

🔑 Key Takeaway

OEE is NOT just one metric.

Weakness in any one leg reduces overall effectiveness.

🧠 Improve Availability, Performance, and Quality together for sustainable productivity.

source : Six Sigma Manufacturing

Understanding FMEA (Failure Mode & Effects Analysis)

🔍 Understanding FMEA (Failure Mode & Effects Analysis)

Think first. Prevent later.

FMEA is a proactive risk-assessment tool used to identify potential failures, understand their effects, and prevent issues before they reach the customer.

❓ What is FMEA?

Failure Mode & Effects Analysis (FMEA) is a structured methodology to:
Identify what can go wrong
Evaluate the impact of failure
Reduce risk through preventive actions

🧩 Key Elements of FMEA

1️⃣ Failure Mode – What can go wrong?
2️⃣ Effect – What happens if it fails?
3️⃣ Cause – Why will it fail?
4️⃣ Severity (S) – How serious is the effect?
5️⃣ Occurrence (O) – How often can it happen?
6️⃣ Detection (D) – Can it be detected before failure?

📊 RPN – Risk Priority Number
RPN = Severity (S) × Occurrence (O) × Detection (D)

🔺 Higher RPN = Higher Risk

🎯 Focus improvement actions on high-RPN items


🔁 FMEA Implementation Steps

✅ Identify potential failures
✅ Analyze effects and causes
✅ Rate S, O, D
✅ Calculate RPN
✅ Implement corrective & preventive actions
✅ Recalculate RPN to confirm risk reduction

🛠️ Example
Failure Mode: Bolt not tightened
Effect: Product failure
Action: Torque wrench + Poka-Yoke 🔒

📌 FMEA is not just a document—it’s a mindset for risk-based thinking and continuous improvement.


source :Six Sigma Manufacturing

hashtag

Mistakes teaches many things

 I spent years striving for "perfection."

Honestly, that was my biggest mistake.

I was a classic serial overplanner.

Google Docs, Notion pages, Trello boards... you name it.

Eventually, I came to the realisation we all come to:

If you're not making mistakes, you're not moving forward.

Truthfully, big change always comes with fear attached.

I think this is the biggest problem with schools in 2025.

We're taught theory, and sometimes, practice.

But mistakes aren't actively encouraged. They should be.

Take it from me:

❌ I failed on LinkedIn for years...

✅ Until 2024, I now have 82,442+ followers.

❌ I changed direction multiple times post-graduation...

✅ I'm now a leading figure at a high-growth startup.

❌ I used to be, quite frankly, a terrible leader.

✅ Now I feel more competent at leading and delegating.

I wouldn't be where I am without the errors I made!

If you have self-limiting beliefs or fear of failure...

You will not achieve the success you're after.

At the end of each week, try this exercise:

1. Reflect on your week overall.

2. Write down 3 mistakes you made.

3. Create an action plan to fix the error.

Make mistakes and learn ma people 💪

What's a recent mistake you've made?

Let me know in the comments!

♻️ Repost to help others learn by doing.

source : Thomas Pearce

Today's KNOWLEDGE Share : The annoying saddle twist warpage of low MFI polyolefin grades.

Today's KNOWLEDGE Share

The annoying saddle twist warpage of low MFI polyolefin grades.

If you ever molded extrusion or blow-molding grades of PP or PE, you have certainly experienced a big warpage problem, stemming from the surprisingly higher than usual IN-FLOW shrinkage.

The graph on the right (similar to my previous post nr. 146) shows that moving to a lower Melt Index increases the chance of freezing more molecular orientation in the part, as a result of the longer relaxation time of low MFI grades.

The graph in the center, from the cited article of 2006, shows the trend of increasing parallel to flow shrinkage with increasing molecular weight of a simple unfilled PP homopolymer.

Note that the three grades are all more viscous than typical in Injection Molding, and they all show a strong anisotropic shrinkage (this is measured on a dog-bone classical tensile bar sample) with larger shrinkage in the flow direction, due to strong molecular orientation. 

It is the exact contrary of classical higher flow PP grades where perpendicular shrinkage is higher than parallel !

Finally, as seen on the left drawing (by Covestro), a centrally gated part will warp in a “saddle twist” fashion when the In-FLOW shrinkage is larger than the CROSS-FLOW shrinkage (perimeter wants to be larger than the corresponding radius).

When dealing with these viscous “twisty-warpy” grades one could in theory add just a few % GF that create the opposite effect of lower IN-FLOW shrinkage. Magically, you could suddenly mold a perfectly flat disc, by adding just a pinch of GF to the mix !

A higher packing (qualifying probably as OVERPACKING of the part center) would also flatten these part by creating the opposite warp trend, something illustrated in classical MOLDFLOW® literature more than 40 years ago.

What is your own experience with low MFI grades ? 

Please comment and share so that we all learn more about this issue.

source :Vito leo

Today's KNOWLEDGE Share : Analysis of POM with other Plastics

Today's KNOWLEDGE Share

Comparative Analysis of POM with Other Plastics:

Some of the key advantages and limitations of POM compared to other plastics are highlighted below:

POM vs Nylon

• POM has lower moisture absorption and better dimensional stability than nylon
• It has higher tensile strength, hardness and modulus than nylon
• Nylon offers higher toughness, ductility and impact strength compared to POM
• Nylon has better chemical resistance than POM, especially to bases, oils and greases
• POM provides lower coefficient of friction than nylon

POM vs Polycarbonate

• POM has much higher strength, hardness and stiffness than polycarbonate
• PC offers very high impact resistance compared to brittle
• POMPolycarbonate has superior temperature resistance up to 140°C vs 90°C for POM
• POM has lower moisture absorption and better dimensional stability
• PC has higher ductility and fracture toughness compared to POM

POM vs Polyimide

• Polyimide can withstand much higher temperatures than POM
• It has excellent strength retention at high temperatures vs POM
• POM offers better impact strength and machinability
• Polyimide has superior wear resistance and chemical resistance
• POM has lower density and moisture absorption compared to polyimide

source:beeplastic.com