For years, manufacturers have treated Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE) as the ultimate yardstick for productivity. Countless improvement projects set out with the promise of boosting OEE, often through costly investments in automation or additional headcount. Yet, the real problem is rarely OEE itself. The real barrier is the absence of accurate, timely, and actionable information. Without that foundation, any attempt to improve OEE is like trying to steer a ship without a compass.
This is exactly what KCG encountered when working with a Tier 1 automotive supplier facing critically low OEE and the sudden loss of key personnel. Traditional approaches would have prescribed more resources or expensive new machinery. Instead, the project revealed that the most effective step forward was improving the flow of information, ensuring that management and operators alike could see the reality of production in real time and act on it immediately.
The Challenge
The customer was dealing with a double blow. OEE was lagging far below acceptable thresholds, and at the same time, the company lost critical expertise through rapid staff turnover. With limited resources, leadership needed a way to stabilize performance quickly. The focus had to be on identifying the major sources of waste and targeting actions with the highest return on investment.
The Approach
KCG implemented a structured, technology-driven solution that centered on visibility and data integrity. Machines were digitally connected to a central system, and a Microsoft SQL Server was deployed to collect machine data consistently and reliably. From there, Power BI was used to deliver reporting in three formats:
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Visual, user-friendly dashboards for daily shopfloor management
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Live numerical reports for supervisors and managers
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Automated Excel reports distributed daily via email
The immediate task was to ensure seamless connectivity, complete data integrity, and consistent reporting.
Implementation and Stakeholder Engagement
Success depended not just on the system architecture but also on the people who would rely on it. Reports were tested with stakeholders and refined based on feedback to ensure usability and trust in the numbers. Access was organized for future users to create a sustainable reporting structure that would not collapse with staff changes.
Results
The outcome was a transformation in production oversight. The system provided real-time visibility and automated reporting, allowing leadership to make faster and more accurate decisions. Key results included:
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Stable and scalable architecture
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Optimized use of limited resources
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Real-time OEE monitoring across CNC machines
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Faster response times across organizational levels
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Six percent increase in OEE
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Elimination of backlog within zero days
Why It Worked
The project worked not because OEE was the target, but because the flow of information was fixed. Once production data became reliable, accessible, and transparent, managers could respond to issues faster, operators could see their performance in real time, and leadership could prioritize actions with the highest impact.
The Takeaway
Factories do not fail because they lack ambition to improve OEE. They fail because the information that should drive decisions is fragmented, delayed, or missing altogether. By addressing the root cause and prioritizing visibility over complexity, KCG helped a Tier 1 automotive supplier regain stability, make smarter use of scarce resources, and lay the foundation for sustainable efficiency improvements.
