Overall Task Effectiveness: a new Lean performance indicator in engineer-to-order environment
International Journal of Productivity and Performance Management
ISSN: 1741-0401
Article publication date: 7 January 2019
Issue publication date: 8 February 2019
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to propose a new Lean metric named Overall Task Effectiveness (OTE), which can help analyst to define target task times and to identify the hidden losses that account for most of the recorded time of manual assembly activities.
Design/methodology/approach
An alternative classification structure of the losses is developed to divide them in two classes. In the first one the losses that are external to the project order are included, and in the other one those due to inefficiencies directly ascribable to the project order are considered. Starting from this classification structure of the losses, a novel Lean metric, inspired from the well-known Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE), is developed to evaluate the effectiveness of a manual assembly task. A case study, which briefly explains the methodology and illustrates the capability of the corresponding metric, is provided.
Findings
This tool can be considered a suitable method to achieve simultaneously a dual purpose to establish time standards and to identify the hidden losses that account for most of the recorded time of manual assembly activities, estimating the impacts of potential corrective actions in terms of both efficiency and effectiveness.
Practical implications
OTE provides practitioners with an operative tool useful to highlight the points where the major inefficiencies take place in industries producing large complex items via manual assembly lines. Its practical application is demonstrated using a case study concerning a manufacturer of train wagons.
Originality/value
One distinctive, and contemporarily appealing, feature of OTE with respect to other analogous KPIs is that it provides a breakdown structure for process losses that simplifies the task of evaluating the current performances and, at the same time, individuates both the source of losses and the corresponding corrective actions.
Keywords
Citation
Braglia, M., Gabbrielli, R. and Marrazzini, L. (2019), "Overall Task Effectiveness: a new Lean performance indicator in engineer-to-order environment", International Journal of Productivity and Performance Management, Vol. 68 No. 2, pp. 407-422. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJPPM-05-2018-0192
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
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