Production sources, bottlenecks, and OEE KPI data

The basis for a line's OEE KPI data are the pieces of equipment in the model that are marked as production sources and bottlenecks.

Line Production Amounts and Production Sources

Production source equipment is identified for each line to determine the line's production amounts. This is the equipment that is producing what would be considered the line's output product.

A line’s production amount is the amount of production (good and waste) to be reported for a given production run. It is based on the amount of production at the equipment defined as the line’s production source, which is usually the last equipment in the line. If there are more than one piece of equipment in parallel paths that are defined as the production source, the production amount will be the sum of the production of all production source equipment. Waste counts from the bottleneck equipment are also added to the total production amount.

In the production line model, production sources are indicated by the icon highlighted on the following equipment cards.

Line Performance and Bottlenecks

Bottleneck equipment is identified for each line to determine the line’s standard production rate. The bottleneck equipment is the piece of equipment or the set of parallel equipment in a line that have the lowest expected production rate, and thus limit the rate at which the entire line can produce items.

If the line’s bottleneck is a set of parallel equipment, the production rate for the line will be the sum of the production rates of the parallel equipment.

In the production line model, bottleneck equipment are indicated by the icon highlighted on the following equipment cards.