Can Seamer OEE: Lid Supply, Seam Checks and the Filler Monoblock

Key takeaways

• The seamer usually sits in one machine with the can filler, so a seamer stop is a filler stop.
• Its typical losses are lids running out, lid feed jams, can jams at the transfer and seam rejects.
• Scheduled seam checks are planned quality time; measure them and code them apart.
• "Lids out" is a material stop, not a seamer fault.
• Price seamer minutes at the bottleneck rate, because there is no buffer to absorb them.

Can seamer OEE measures the machine that closes filled beverage cans with a lid: how long it runs, how close to its rated speed, and how many cans leave with a good seam. Because the seamer and filler usually form one monoblock with no buffer between them, every seamer stop is a bottleneck stop, and its losses come mostly from lid supply, lid feed and can transfer jams, and seam rejects.

Fabrico, an OEE and light MES platform, logs each stop with its reason and prices it at the line's bottleneck rate. This guide covers where the seamer's time goes, how to measure each OEE factor, how to treat seam checks, and a worked shift on a beverage can line.

Where does the can seamer's time go?

Damaged or out of spec cans from the can supply look like transfer faults. A code for can quality keeps them visible to the people who buy the cans. For the can making side, see OEE for beverage can making.

How do you measure Availability, Performance and Quality on a can seamer?

• Availability = run time / planned production time. Own faults reduce it. Scheduled seam checks can be planned time, if your plant decides so; then failed checks and the adjustments after them are losses.
• Performance = cans seamed / (run time x rated cans a minute). On a monoblock it is usually measured with the filler.
• Quality = good cans / cans seamed. Seam rejects and cans rejected by inspection after the seamer count against it.

On a monoblock, measure filler and seamer as one machine for the line view, but code the seamer's stops separately, so you know which half to fix. Our guide to filler OEE covers the filler's side.

How should seam checks be coded?

1. Scheduled seam check: planned quality time, with a standard length.
2. Adjustment after a failed check: a loss, coded as a seamer adjustment.
3. Seam reject: a Quality loss, counted in cans.
4. Hold after a failed check: cans made since the last good check may be held; record the quantity and the decision.

Keep the check routine short and fixed. A check that is skipped to save time can turn into a much bigger hold later.

How do you separate the seamer's own stops from line effects?

Code lids out and wrong lids as material stops, can damage as can quality, and backed up cans at the outfeed as blocked time, charged to the machine after it. Only the remaining stops are the seamer's to fix. Our guide to starvation and blocking explains how to read the states.

A worked shift on a can seamer

Sample line (illustrative numbers, not a customer): a beverage can line where the filler and seamer monoblock runs 800 cans a minute and is the bottleneck. The contribution margin is $0.03 a can, or €0.03 in a euro plant, so one minute is worth 800 x $0.03 = $24. The shift has 450 minutes, of which 12 are scheduled seam checks, so planned production time is 438 minutes.

• Availability = 409 / 438 = 93.4%.
• Quality: 327,200 cans seamed, 1,200 rejected for seam faults: 326,000 / 327,200 = 99.6%.
• Unplanned stops: 9 + 7 + 10 + 3 = 29 minutes, all at the bottleneck, so 29 x $24 = $696 this shift, or €696.
• The single "lids out" stop cost 9 x $24 = $216, more than any one seamer fault. A lid level check and a reorder point would have removed it.
• The 14 lid feed jams look small at half a minute each, but together they cost 7 x $24 = $168.

Which mistakes do plants make with can seamer OEE?

• Booking lids out as a seamer fault, so the supply routine never changes.
• Mixing scheduled seam checks with adjustments, so neither can be improved.
• Measuring the monoblock as one machine without separate seamer codes.
• Filtering out half minute lid feed jams. See our guide to micro stops.
• Skipping seam checks to save minutes. A missed fault costs far more in held cans.

Where Fabrico fits

Fabrico is a computer vision enabled Manufacturing Performance Platform. OEE and light MES come first: automatic downtime logging and OEE live by line and shift.

• The operator confirms the reason in one tap, so lids out and lid feed jam get different codes.
• A camera clip as evidence for a stop, where a camera watches the lid feed or the can transfer.
• Losses priced in money and ranked at the bottleneck rate.
• One view across plants for can lines on different sites.

You start with a pilot on one line, with a baseline and a decision date agreed in advance. There is no free plan and there are no tiers: each plant gets a quote. See how stops are captured on our computer vision OEE page.

Frequently asked questions

How do you calculate can seamer OEE?

Availability is run time over planned production time, Performance is cans seamed over what it could seam at rated speed, and Quality is good cans over cans seamed. On a monoblock, it is often measured together with the filler.

Are seam checks downtime?

Scheduled checks can be planned time if your plant decides so. Adjustments after a failed check are losses.

What causes can seamer stops?

Lids running out or jamming in the lid feed, can jams at the transfer from the filler, damaged cans and seam faults that need adjustment.

Does a seamer stop always stop the filler?

On a monoblock, yes. There is no buffer between them, so seamer minutes are bottleneck minutes.

Should lids out count against the seamer?

Code it as a material stop. The fix is a lid level check and a reorder point, not the seamer.

See your seamer's losses in a demo

Bring one can line and its current downtime log. We will show the seamer's own stops, its supply stops and what they cost.

Request a demo · Contact us