Bottleneck and production source equipment line positions

To calculate a line's OEE KPIs, there must be at least one bottleneck equipment identified, which is used to determine the line's production rate. Therefore, the bottleneck indicated should be the piece of equipment with the slowest production rate. There must also be at least one production source identified, which is used to determine the line's total good production count. The total waste production count comes from both the bottleneck and production source equipment.

Each path through the production line must have one and only one bottleneck equipment and one production source equipment. Generally, the production source is located at or near the end of the line where final counts are taken. Bottlenecks are generally before the production source equipment and will set the production rate for the line. Multiple parallel bottlenecks will be additive in determining the line's production rate.

In the example production line below, Coater 100 and Coater 200 are indicated as the bottlenecks in the line. Coater 100 has a target rate of 100 bags per minute and Coater 200 has a target rate of 150 bags per minute. So the line has a target rate of 250 bags per minute.