Gamification is spreading. Playful elements are used in a non-game context. Wikipedia says that “through the integration of these playful elements, a substantial increase in the motivation of the persons should be achieved …”. In this context, game-typical elements can be manifold: experience points, high scores, progress bars, virtual goods or awards – those who have children can hardly avoid these topics in the age of mobile gaming. oee.ai uses yet another element for OEE optimization – the ranking.
OEE Optimization as a Competition
The idea is not so far away: companies confront employees with many topics. Constantly changes here and there something, always something (other) is required. The fact that employees are tired of immediately getting fully involved in the next productivity improvement project seems understandable. The employees want to be convinced that it is worthwhile to participate. Every manager needs to know that it takes the employee and his motivation to make the step towards improvement every day in his work. So how do you awaken the motivation that slumbers in the employees?
One possibility: people like competition. It can inspire, awaken the ambition, bring forth innovations. Many millions of people watch the Olympics, the Bundesliga or the Super Bowl because they enjoy competing according to defined rules. We can also tap this source of motivation for OEE optimization.
Necessary Range of OEE Optimization as a Competition
You do not have to be a large corporation for the challenge. If you want to carry out an OEE improvement project at different locations at the same time and if you want to compete against each other in a competition, the different plant teams must meet some technical boundary conditions:
- The definition of the OEE must be identical across the different sites.
- The starting situation at the respective plant, the zero line, should have been determined under identical conditions.
- The determination of the OEE should be as non-intrusive as possible in order to counter even the rumors of a purposeful human influence on the measured values.
- The current state of the competition should be transparently visible to all participants – because this is precisely what feeds the motivation that is so urgently needed.
If these conditions are met, the technological basics are laid. If now a central organizing committee takes over the project management and in particular the communication around the competition, nothing stands in the way of a starting shot of the competition.
oee.ai as a Tool for an OEE Competition
The module “OEE Olympics” is optionally available in oee.ai. This makes it easy to meet the technical requirements for a successful OEE improvement competition. The system is analogous to a Bundesliga table laid out and can be considered procedurally as a Bundesliga season.
At the beginning of the project, a zero line of the current OEE is determined for each plant. In this way, the services of all participating systems are standardized to the same status. Week after week, a relative OEE change is calculated and reported. This results in a new placement of the investment teams at the end of each week. At the end of the “season” – which can take any number of weeks or months – the winner of the OEE competition will be chosen.
As the visualization on a mobile phone – any other device with an Internet connection is also suitable – looks like, shows the following figure.
In this way, all participants in the OEE optimization competition can always find out about their position and the distance to the competition. The built-in Andon feature in oee.ai provides overviews of plant availability, performance and quality at all times. More on this this article.
Still a Short Stop Before the Kick-Off
Here is the technology described: With just a few steps, in a short time and without investment to create the infrastructure for an OEE optimization competition. However, the leadership, the communication of such a project and the handling of the results are at least as decisive for success: in which context is the competition carried out, who participates, what receives the winner but also how will the relegation and relegation places – in the picture to stay in the Bundesliga – handled? Corporate cultures are fragile and very specific entities that can be damaged. That’s why it’s important to have a well thought-out concept here. Properly positioned, an OEE optimization competition unlocks previously unimagined potential.
What’s Next?
We have sparked your interest. Contact us at info@oee.ai or call us: +49 (0) 241/401 842 75. We will gladly provide you with oee.ai sensors and access to the analysis cockpit for a trial period. Only then you decide. Also here we are easy!