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Where food and beverage lines lose OEE

On a high-speed line, output is rarely lost in one long breakdown. It leaks away in short jams at the labeler, slow running after a product change and packs rejected at the end of the line.

Fabrico's OEE software calculates OEE as Availability x Performance x Quality for each machine and line, on one dashboard. Each factor stands for a different type of loss, so a low score tells the team what kind of problem to look for.

  • Availability: how long the filler or packer ran in the time it was planned to run.
  • Performance: how close the line came to its rated speed, which is where slow running shows up.
  • Quality: good units against all units produced on the line.
  • Views: per line and per machine, live or for a past period.

Downtime tracking on filling and packaging lines

Fabrico records stops from the machine data, and the operator tags the cause on a tablet at the line. Downtime by cause then shows which stops cost each line the most time.

Micro-stops on packaging machines

A case packer or flow wrapper that jams for a few seconds at a time rarely makes it into a paper report, yet those stops add up over a shift. Fabrico detects micro-stops automatically and shows how often they happen on each machine, so the team knows where to look first.

Product changes between SKUs

Every change of flavor, recipe or pack size stops the line. With those stops tagged as changeovers, you see how long changeovers take on each line, and whether a new routine makes them shorter.

CIP and hygiene cleaning stops

Clean-in-place cycles and sanitation windows are stops you expect, not breakdowns. Because operators tag them with their own cause, cleaning stops are listed apart from breakdowns, so cleaning time does not blur the picture of what goes wrong on the line.

You still see how much time cleaning takes on each line, so the lines can be compared.

Production monitoring for fillers, cappers and labelers

OEE is only as good as the data behind it, so Fabrico reads it from the machines, not from paper sheets filled in at the end of the shift. One plant can mix the connection types, line by line:

  • PLC connection: run, stop and count signals straight from the controller of a filler, capper or palletizer.
  • IoT sensor: fitted to an older machine without a usable PLC output, such as a stand-alone labeler.
  • Camera: computer vision counts output and spots stops on manual or hybrid steps, such as a hand-packing station.

The data lands in the same OEE dashboard, whichever way a machine is connected. Our machine monitoring software page explains each option in detail.

Shift handovers and built-in CMMS

At handover, the incoming shift lead opens the OEE dashboard and goes through the stops of the previous shift, each with its length and cause. Open work orders for the line are in the same app, so nobody has to rebuild the night shift from memory.

When a machine needs a technician, the line lead opens a work order from the stop, and the technician gets a push notification on the phone.

  • Reaction time: tracked on emergency jobs.
  • Preventive maintenance: an annual PM plan, with tasks you drag to another day on the calendar, for example the day a line is down for cleaning.
  • Spare parts: change parts and wear parts for packaging machines, with min/max levels and consumption tied to work orders.
  • MTTR and MTBF: per machine, plus a list of the machines with the most repairs.

See how stops are recorded and tagged with a cause on our downtime tracking software page.

Multi-plant OEE, ERP integration and security

Food and consumer goods groups often run the same products in several plants. A group account brings them into one multi-plant view, and cross-plant comparison reports set them side by side, so each plant can learn from the one that runs best.

Role-based access: plant managers, shift leads, operators and technicians each see what their role needs.

SAP and other ERPs: bidirectional sync with SAP PM and integration with SAP S/4HANA, while Dynamics, Oracle and other ERPs connect through a custom integration.

Open data: REST API, webhooks and Zapier, bulk import from Excel, Excel export of any list and CSV export.

Sign-in and control: SSO through SAML as a custom integration, plus an audit log.

Languages: English, Bulgarian, German, French and Polish today, and more can be added.

Security: ISO/IEC 27001, GDPR with a DPA, hosting in the AWS EU region and encryption at rest and in transit.

For a wider look at the market, read our comparison of OEE software for food and beverage manufacturing.

Questions food and beverage plants ask

How long does an OEE rollout take? With hardware, installing and connecting the devices takes about 1 month, and the full rollout takes 3 to 4 months.

Is Fabrico a full MES? No, Fabrico covers the monitoring and OEE side of MES: machine data, downtime, OEE and the maintenance work that follows.

Production planning and scheduling is on our roadmap and is not part of the product today.

Which devices do operators and technicians use? Fabrico runs on iOS, Android and the web, and scanning the QR code on a machine opens its file and repair history.

Is our production data backed up? Yes, data is backed up daily, with a 4 hour RTO and a 4 hour RPO, and the platform runs behind Cloudflare DDoS protection.

What is a higher OEE worth to our plant? Our OEE calculator prices the gap between your current OEE and your target OEE.

What support do we get? Live and on-site training, plus email and phone callback support with a response in under 2 hours.

What happens in a demo? It is a 30 minute conversation with a Fabrico consultant, no commitment, about your own lines.

Any data you share with us is handled under ISO 27001.

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