- \n
- A running machine can produce well below its reference rate.<\/li>\n
- This speed loss appears in no downtime log.<\/li>\n
- Slow running and micro-stops have different causes and actions.<\/li>\n
- Only part-by-part measurement makes the speed gap visible.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n
A running machine is not necessarily a machine running at rate<\/h2>\n
On the shop floor, a running machine is seen as a healthy machine. No warning light, no alarm, no intervention. Yet if it produces 80 parts where it should produce 100 in the same time (fictitious example), it loses the equivalent of one fifth of its run time. This loss shows up in no downtime log, because there was no stop.<\/p>\n
In the OEE calculation, it lands in the performance rate: the ratio between what was produced during run time and what could have been produced at the reference rate. That reference rate still has to be right. If it has been lowered over the years to match reality, speed loss disappears from the calculation without disappearing from the shop floor.<\/p>\n
Deliberate or suffered reduced speed<\/h2>\n
Not all speed reductions are equal. Two situations must be distinguished.<\/p>\n
- \n
- Deliberate reduced speed.<\/strong> A setting for a difficult product, a sensitive raw material, a quality instruction, a setter who slows down after a series of incidents. The decision may be legitimate, but it must be recorded, with its reason and planned duration. Otherwise the temporary slowdown becomes the norm.<\/li>\n
- Suffered reduced speed.<\/strong> Component wear, fouling, irregular upstream supply, downstream saturation, one operator covering two stations. The machine cannot do better, and nobody decided it.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
In both cases the rule is the same: the reference rate remains the machine’s nominal rate for the product concerned, and the gap is measured. A deliberately reduced rate is justified by a reason; it is not hidden in the standard.<\/p>\n
![\"Four-step](\"https:\/\/teeptrak.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/11\/teeptrak-solo-a10-en.png\")
<\/figure>\nSlow running and micro-stops: two different losses<\/h2>\n
Both losses weigh on the performance rate and are often confused. Yet they are neither detected nor treated the same way.<\/p>\n
- Suffered reduced speed.<\/strong> Component wear, fouling, irregular upstream supply, downstream saturation, one operator covering two stations. The machine cannot do better, and nobody decided it.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
- Deliberate reduced speed.<\/strong> A setting for a difficult product, a sensitive raw material, a quality instruction, a setter who slows down after a series of incidents. The decision may be legitimate, but it must be recorded, with its reason and planned duration. Otherwise the temporary slowdown becomes the norm.<\/li>\n