Building Materials manufacturing is heavy industry.
Whether you are crushing rock for concrete, sawing logs for lumber, or baking slurry for drywall, your equipment takes a beating.
OEE (Overall Equipment Effectiveness) in this sector isn't usually about "Micro-Stops" on a packaging line.
It is about Major Asset Reliability and Throughput (Tons/Hour).
If a primary crusher jams, the whole quarry stops. If a sawmill band saw dulls, you lose thousands of board feet in sawdust (yield loss).
Standard OEE tools often fail here because they are designed for clean rooms, not dusty mills.
You need software that survives the environment and connects Machine Health directly to Production Output.
Here are the 5 best OEE software tools for the Building Materials industry.
1. Fabrico (Best for Asset Reliability & Harsh Environments)
Fabrico is built for the "Dirty" jobs.
In building materials, the number one cause of lost OEE is equipment failure due to wear and tear (abrasion, dust, vibration).
Fabrico bridges the gap between Production and Maintenance. When OEE drops because a conveyor belt is slipping, Fabrico allows the operator to instantly tag it for repair using a rugged tablet.
Key Features for Building Materials:
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Rugged Mobile App: Designed to work offline in concrete basements or remote lumber yards. Big buttons for gloved hands.
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Vibration Integration: Connects to sensors on crushers and saws to detect bearing failure before the catastrophic stop.
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Digital Lubrication Rounds: Managing the greasing of hundreds of bearings is critical in dusty environments. Fabrico digitizes these rounds to ensure compliance.
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Wear Part Tracking: Tracks the life of crusher liners and saw blades, triggering replacement based on tonnage processed.
Best For: Plants where mechanical reliability and harsh conditions are the main challenges.
2. Command Alkon (Best for Concrete & Aggregates)
Command Alkon is the undisputed giant of the Heavy Building Materials world.
Their software suite (COMMANDseries) runs the entire vertical: from the quarry to the ready-mix truck to the dispatch office.
Their Production & Quality Control modules are highly specialized for batching concrete. They track the "Moisture Content" of the aggregate to adjust the water mix automatically.
For a Ready-Mix or Aggregate plant, this is the operating system of choice. However, it is highly specialized vertical software, not a general OEE tool.
Best For: Ready-Mix Concrete and Aggregate Quarries.
3. Epicor (LumberTrack / BisTrack) (Best for Lumber & Wood)
Epicor dominates the wood products industry with its LumberTrack and BisTrack solutions.
In a sawmill, "OEE Quality" is actually "Recovery" (Yield).
Epicor tracks the volume of the log entering the mill versus the volume of finished board feet leaving. It helps mills optimize the cutting patterns to get the most value out of every tree.
It connects OEE to inventory and sales (e.g., "We are low on 2x4s, so prioritize the breakdown saw").
Best For: Sawmills and Wood Remanufacturing plants.
4. Aveva (PI System) (Best for Kilns & Continuous Process)
Aveva (formerly Wonderware/OSIsoft) is the standard for continuous processes like Cement Kilns and Drywall Dryers.
These assets cannot be turned off. OEE is measured by Thermal Efficiency and Throughput Stability.
Aveva collects thousands of data points (temperatures, gas flows) to ensure the process stays within the "Golden Window."
It is a heavy engineering tool. It requires a dedicated team to manage, but for a massive Cement Plant, it is essential for managing the energy costs (which are often higher than labor costs).
Best For: Cement Plants and Gypsum/Drywall manufacturing.
5. Shoplogix (Best for Finishing Lines)
Shoplogix is a great fit for the "Discrete" side of building materials—the finishing end.
Think of a shingle packaging line, a drywall stacking line, or a flooring boxing line.
Here, the process looks more like a standard factory. Shoplogix excels at visualizing the Speed of these lines.
It motivates the crew to keep the stackers running at target rates. It is often used in the "Cold End" of these plants while Aveva manages the "Hot End."
Best For: Packaging and Finishing lines within building material plants.
Comparison: Heavy Industry Tools
Which tool survives your plant floor?
| Feature |
Fabrico |
Command Alkon |
Epicor |
Aveva |
Shoplogix |
| Industry Focus |
Heavy Reliability (All) |
Concrete/Agg |
Lumber/Wood |
Cement/Process |
Finishing/Pkg |
| Primary Metric |
Asset Uptime |
Batch Quality |
Recovery (Yield) |
Thermal Efficiency |
Line Speed |
| Maintenance Link |
Native (CMMS) |
Limited |
Limited |
Integration |
Limited |
| Environment |
Rugged/Offline |
Dispatch Office |
Mill Office |
Control Room |
Plant Floor |
| Cost Model |
Subscription |
Enterprise License |
Enterprise License |
Enterprise |
Subscription |
Conclusion: Protect the Iron
In Building Materials, your assets are eating themselves alive every day. Rock crushes steel. Wood dulls carbide.
If your primary need is Vertical Integration (dispatching trucks, selling lumber), choose Command Alkon or Epicor.
If your primary need is Process Control (managing the kiln), choose Aveva.
But if your goal is to keep the crushers crushing and the saws sawing by integrating OEE with Maintenance Reliability, Fabrico is the tool that keeps the iron running.
Ready to toughen up your OEE?
See how Fabrico handles maintenance in the harshest manufacturing environments.
Book a Demo with Fabrico Today
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