On the relationship between Human Factor and Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE): evidences from an application of the Analytic Hierarchy Process

The Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE) is one of the leading Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) for manufacturing operations management, which is aimed at identifying and measuring the inefficiencies of industrial equipment. Along the years, the OEE indicator, first introduced by Seiichi Nakajima within the Total Productive Maintenance (TPM) theory, has become a pillar for continuous improvement and productivity measurement in the operations context, and is largely adopted by many manufacturing organizations. However, despite the wide adoption and implementation of OEE, the influence of the “human factor” on its outcomes has only begun to receive attention during the last decades. Indeed, in recent years few scientific contributions have investigated their relationship, showing that the link between manufacturing performances and human aspects appears relevant, though not clearly identified yet. For this reason, the objective of our study is to investigate the relationship between the Overall Equipment Effectiveness and the human factor, with the aim of identifying the human activities that exert an influence upon reaching high levels of OEE. To reach this goal, the paper first proposes a framework to clarify the relationship between human factors, OEE parameters, industrial sector and degree of automation, and then validates it through the application of the Analytic Hierarchy Process methodology, with a set of experts with relevant experience in the manufacturing industrial setting. As a result, 13 aspects related to the human factor have been identified and their degree of influence on the OEE indicator has been analysed and described. Lastly, the paper provides practical guidance and implications for leveraging the outcomes of this investigation, with the objective of improving an organization’s overall manufacturing performance.