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- An OEE gap between shifts only makes sense with identical measurement.<\/li>\n
- Handover, staffing, no night maintenance and settings explain most gaps.<\/li>\n
- Breaking OEE into availability, performance and quality shows where to look.<\/li>\n
- Short shared routines close the gap without setting shifts against each other.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n
Before comparing, measure every shift the same way<\/h2>\n
An OEE gap between shifts only means something if all shifts are measured with the same rules. That is rarely the case when OEE is rebuilt from shift sheets. The day supervisor logs stops longer than five minutes, the night supervisor only logs breakdowns, a third rounds quantities to the nearest box. The final figure compares data entry habits, not performance.<\/p>\n
Four things must be identical for every shift: planned production time (breaks and start of shift meetings handled the same way), the reference cycle time per product, the threshold above which a stop is counted, and the rule for counting good parts. As long as these rules differ, the discussion is about measurement, not about the shop floor. Automatic measurement removes most of the problem: the machine is observed the same way at 3 a.m. and at 10 a.m., and operators only have to qualify the reasons for stops.<\/p>\n
Typical causes of a gap between shifts<\/h2>\n
Once measurement is harmonised, the remaining gap is almost always organisational, rarely a matter of individual skill. The most common causes:<\/p>\n
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- Shift handover.<\/strong> A two minute verbal handover at the end of the line loses useful information: a setting in progress, incoming material, a defect to watch. The next shift rediscovers the problem and loses the start of the shift.<\/li>\n
- Staffing.<\/strong> At night an absence is not covered, one setter looks after several lines, a temporary worker is new to the station. Stops last longer because everyone waits for the only person able to intervene.<\/li>\n
- No maintenance at night.<\/strong> Without a technician on site, a breakdown fixed in twenty minutes during the day can stop the machine until the on call technician arrives or until morning. The gap then sits in availability, not in performance.<\/li>\n
- Settings.<\/strong> Each shift sometimes has its own parameters, tolerances and way of restarting after a stop. Speed differences and restart scrap are the trace.<\/li>\n
- Product mix.<\/strong> If long runs are scheduled during the day and short runs at night, or the reverse, the shifts are not playing the same game.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
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<\/figure>\nAn example to make it concrete<\/h2>\n
For example, take a packaging line running three shifts (fictitious figures, for illustration only). Over a month, the shift sheets show 68% OEE in the morning, 65% in the afternoon and 54% at night. Management concludes that the night shift underperforms. Once measurement is made identical, the breakdown tells a different story: performance and quality are close across the three shifts, and most of the gap comes from availability. The night concentrates two kinds of stops: breakdowns waiting for the on call technician, and a much longer start of shift restart, because there are no written notes on the setting in progress. The issue is not the night team’s motivation but access to maintenance and the quality of the handover.<\/p>\n
A fair comparison, step by step<\/h2>\n
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- Freeze the measurement rules<\/strong>: planned time, reference cycle per product, stop threshold and part counting, identical for all shifts and written down.<\/li>\n
- Break OEE down<\/strong> by shift into availability, performance and quality. A global gap does not tell you where to look, the breakdown does.<\/li>\n
- Compare at a comparable product mix<\/strong>: same product or product family, or compare each shift to its own reference cycle per product.<\/li>\n
- Look at stops by reason and by hour<\/strong>: start of shift, breaks, middle of the night. Gaps often concentrate on a few time slots.<\/li>\n
- Look over several weeks<\/strong>: one bad night is not a trend. Compare averages over at least four weeks.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
- Break OEE down<\/strong> by shift into availability, performance and quality. A global gap does not tell you where to look, the breakdown does.<\/li>\n
- Staffing.<\/strong> At night an absence is not covered, one setter looks after several lines, a temporary worker is new to the station. Stops last longer because everyone waits for the only person able to intervene.<\/li>\n
- Shift handover.<\/strong> A two minute verbal handover at the end of the line loses useful information: a setting in progress, incoming material, a defect to watch. The next shift rediscovers the problem and loses the start of the shift.<\/li>\n