ISO 22400 KPI Selection: Which of the 34 Indicators Your Plant Should Actually Track

Key takeaways

• ISO 22400 defines 34 KPIs. Most plants need 6-10.
• Tracking all 34 produces noise. Tracking too few hides important signals.
• The right set depends on plant type (discrete vs batch vs process), audience, and improvement priority.
• Standard core set: OEE (with factors), MTBF, MTTR, throughput rate, scrap ratio, PM compliance.
• Add KPIs for specific use cases (energy intensity, allocation efficiency) when the operating decisions require them.

Short answer: ISO 22400 defines 34 manufacturing KPIs. Most plants need 6-10 of them, not all. Tracking too many produces noise; too few hides important signals. The right set depends on plant type, audience, and improvement priority. A standard core set covers OEE (with factors), MTBF, MTTR, throughput rate, scrap ratio, and PM compliance. Add others as specific operating decisions require. See also ISO 22400 vs ISO 9001.

The 34 KPIs (briefly)

ISO 22400 Part 2 defines:

• Production KPIs: OEE, Availability, Performance, Quality, throughput rate, allocation ratio, utilization, worker efficiency, productivity.
• Quality KPIs: scrap ratio, rework ratio, fall-off ratio, quality ratio.
• Maintenance KPIs: MTBF, MTTR, MTTF, maintenance success ratio, mean time to inspect.
• Inventory KPIs: inventory turn, finished goods ratio, integrated goods ratio.
• Plus more on energy, comprehensive effectiveness, and process-specific metrics.

Why most plants do not need all 34

Tracking all 34 produces:

• Reporting fatigue.
• Conflicting signals from related metrics.
• Audience confusion (who looks at what).
• Effort spent maintaining metrics nobody acts on.

Tracking the right 6-10 produces actionable signal at sustainable effort.

The standard core set

For most manufacturing plants:

1. OEE. Aggregate effectiveness.
2. Availability (OEE factor). Time-based loss decomposition.
3. Performance (OEE factor). Speed-based loss decomposition.
4. Quality (OEE factor). Quality-based loss decomposition.
5. MTBF. Asset reliability.
6. MTTR. Maintainability.
7. Throughput rate. Output per time.
8. Scrap ratio. Material efficiency.
9. PM compliance. Maintenance program execution.
10. First-pass yield (or equivalent). Process consistency.

These ten cover production, quality, and maintenance with minimal overlap.

What to add by plant type

Batch / process:

• Batch yield.
• Release pass rate.
• Recipe compliance.

High-mix discrete:

• Changeover time.
• SKU mix complexity.
• Allocation efficiency.

Heavily-instrumented operations:

• Energy intensity.
• Specific energy consumption.
• Material utilization.

Regulated industries:

• Compliance KPIs per regulation.
• Audit-readiness metrics.
• Documentation completeness.

What to add by audience

Floor operators: current shift OEE, dominant loss, takt achievement.

Supervisors: shift OEE, downtime Pareto, near-real-time quality.

Managers: daily and weekly trends, cross-line comparison, PM compliance.

Executives: monthly OEE, cost per unit, year-over-year trend.

Each audience sees different cuts of the same underlying KPIs.

How to select

1. Start with the standard core set. Covers most needs.
2. Add use-case-specific KPIs. Per plant type and audience.
3. Test the set. Do operating decisions get made with these KPIs?
4. Prune. Remove KPIs nobody acts on.
5. Document. Owner per KPI; review cadence.

Common mistakes

1. All 34 by default. Vendor sells "ISO 22400 compliance" with all 34; plant tracks all 34; decisions are not made differently. Noise.

2. Just OEE. Misses MTBF, PM compliance, scrap detail. Improvement direction unclear.

3. No owner per KPI. Metrics decay without ownership.

4. Inconsistent definitions across lines. Cross-line comparison breaks.

What ISO 22400 standardization enables

Using the standard formulas means:

• Auditor recognizes the definitions.
• Vendor systems interoperate.
• Industry benchmarks become meaningful.
• Enterprise procurement accepts the data.

This benefit applies even if you only track 8 of the 34.

Review cadence

• Daily for operational KPIs (OEE, throughput).
• Weekly for improvement KPIs (PM compliance, MTBF trend).
• Monthly for strategic KPIs (cost per unit, trend).
• Annual for the KPI selection itself.

How a modern OEE platform supports selection

A modern OEE platform supports configurable KPI sets aligned with ISO 22400, with the standard core set out-of-the-box and additional KPIs activatable as needed.

Fabrico's OEE module ships with the ISO 22400 standard core set configured out-of-the-box, with additional KPIs activatable based on plant type and use case.

See how Fabrico captures this automatically, explore OEE for manufacturing or book a demo.

Related reading

• ISO 22400 vs ISO 9001
• OEE and ISO 22400
• Maintenance Backlog
• OEE and ISO 9001

Frequently asked questions

Do I need all 34 KPIs to claim ISO 22400 alignment?

No. Alignment means using standard formulas for the KPIs you track. You do not have to track all of them.

What is the minimum KPI set?

OEE with three factors plus MTBF and PM compliance covers most operational reality.

How often should I review the KPI selection?

Annually plus after major operational changes.

Should every line have the same KPI set?

Core set yes; specific additions can vary by line type.

What if my industry has additional standard KPIs?

Add them on top of the ISO 22400 set. Many industries have specific standards (food safety, pharma GMP, automotive IATF).

Does ISO 22400 include MTBF and MTTR?

Yes. MTBF and MTTR are both among the 34 KPIs defined in ISO 22400-2, in the maintenance group, alongside MTTF, maintenance success ratio and mean time to inspect. So a plant already trending MTBF and MTTR is using ISO 22400 metrics, and the value of the standard there is that it fixes how the times are counted rather than inventing a new metric. What ISO 22400 does not do is tell you which of the 34 to adopt, which is the selection decision this guide covers.