Improving Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE) through the six sigma methodology in a semiconductor firm: A case study

In today´s turbulent and competitive business environment, many organizations are forced to implement various productivity improvement programs in order to continue to survive. One of the many approaches to improve production performance is to develop and implement total productive maintenance. Total productive maintenance (TPM) is a world-class manufacturing strategy which leading manufacturing near to ideal condition with zero down time, zero defect, lean production, just-in-time production (JIT) and competitive cost leader in order to gain competitive advantage. The most common metric utilized by management to gauge the effectiveness and successful implementation of TPM is Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE). OEE is a powerful key performance indicator focusing on equipment availability, performance efficiency and quality rate. This paper discussed on the use of the DMAIC approach to systematically Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve and Control the equipment performance. The purpose of this paper is to discuss and highlight the adoption of the six-sigma methodology to mitigate the bottleneck process which focuses mainly on the current OEE performance.