OEE SOFTWARE USER GUIDE — 2026

OEE Coach Software

Bottom-up OEE Improvement Software with the longest history

From the first OEE Software ever….

In 1995, Arno Koch started to develop a number of tools to make all losses on all machines visible by the production team itself and called it the ‘OEE Toolkit’.
Everything went into a box and in 1997 the first generic OEE Software ever was released by Norman Bodek‘s Productivity Press in the US. This ‘OEE Toolkit’ thus entered the source of a lot of Japanese knowledge through the translated books on TPM and lean.
OEE Toolkit became the market standard for OEE Software and was licensed to Fullfact in The Netherlands in 2004. Version 6 and 7 (OEE Blue) appeared soon after.

…to a new generation OEE software!

After more than 25 years of ‘OEE Toolkit’ it was time to convert all the experience gained into the ultimate successor: OEE COACH.

  • Philosophy: be able to visualize all losses on all machines.
  • Strategy: OEE COACH is the central tool to support all continuous improvement activities with correct and meaningful information.
  • Approach: The production team is central and reports. All paries peak the same language and work together towards a mutual goal
  • Goal: Together create zero-loss production processes

And all of this now with an unprecedented analysis speed and groundbreaking new capabilities, such as translating a certain OEE into financial or energy values, What-If analyses and support modules that make the life of a production team easier

 

10 characteristics

01
operational improvement

“OEE COACH is not just oee software; it is a method, a philosophy” and the perfect Productivity approach: Software matching the shopfloor AND profound knowledge how to achiev sustainable improvement

The dreamed toolbox to World Class Manufacturing. The goal: every resource going into the factory, comes out in the product, or can be reused…

Result

  • More capacity
  • Higher flexibility
  • Higher reliability
  • Higher quality
  • Lower costs

… and all that without capital investment.

02
OEE as a language

“OEE COACH ENABLES ALL DEPARTMENTS TO SPEAK THE SAME LANGUAGE,
STRIVING FOR THE SAME GOALS…”

Result

In many factories ‘the other departments’ seem to be rather an enemy than a helping partner. The OEE Coach software is not just ‘software’; it creates a common language and allows to celebrate mutual successes based on understandable facts and figures.

  • From “They never…” and “They should…”
  • to “WE succeed” and “WE Solve”

‘We can solve any problem if we really work together!’

03
Easy to use by the shopfloor

“OEE Coach connects the Technical System with the Social System.
This is the basis to improve productivity.”

    • Only with the right insights, ALL the losses that diminish your value-creation process can be eliminated
    • Your team needs answers to any relevant question about occurring losses
    • Your shopfloor team needs to really understand the numbers
    • Different angles require different views of the same data
    • Visual presentation -in the right way- is faster and easier to understand

Result

Connecting goes far beyond plugs and interfaces. Of course, this can help, but most of the problems we need to solve are not at that level.
Connecting people with technology means, amongst other things,

  • ONE application provides access to data-gathering, processing and analyses
  • Intuitive user-interface: designed for shop floor use
  • Configurable features per system and per user
  • Effective user-access policy per user, PC and role
  • Production team can do analysis and reporting  
04
Easy and meaningful Analyses and Reporting

Data acquisition is of little value, without clever data-crunching. And yet, little attention is paid to this, based on the – erroneous – assumption that, “as long as there is enough data, the information will emerge of its own accord.”

Result

With minimal – but the right – data, the team can quickly and easily generate all the relevant information.

  • AGGREGATING CHARTS: Bring loads of data back to one chart to give a resume; give insights at a glance./li>
  • IN-TIME CHARTS:  How is the development in time; data will be aggregated per shift, per day, per week or per month.
  • AGGREGATING REPORTS: Sum- and group loads of data in order to gain more insight in underlying numbers.
  • IN-TIME REPORTS: Shuffle data in a way the actual or grouped data allow a more understandable way of presentation.
  • Production team can do its own analysis and reporting  
05
The Connected Factory

“OEE Coach connects the Technical System with the Social System.
This is the basis to improve productivity.”

Result

Connecting goes far beyond plugs and interfaces. Of course, this can help, but most of the problems we need to solve are not at that level.
Connecting people with technology means, amongst other things,

  • Everyone receives relevant information at the right time
  • Everyone understands what that means and what they need to do
  • The software helps to carry out the correct analyses and present them visually
06
Flexibility in every situation

“OEE software designed to identify EVERY loss on EVERY machine; whether batch, process or discrete: OEE COACH will take care. You can configure it exactly as you need for your specific situation. However your business grows, the OEE Coach software grows with your needs.”

Result

  • Machines, teams, shifts, products: define and name them in the way you’re used to.
  • Whichever shift pattern you follow, you record and report your information correctly
  • waiting times, reasons for rejection; you can name them as you wish or follow the OEE Industry Standard.
  • Any loss of effectiveness on any type of equipment can and will become visible.
07
data correctness

Intelligent Algorithms assure the most accurate data possible; detecting flaws and mistakes and giving proper feedback to the users. But most important: It generates intelligent and validated charts, reports and overviews.

When it comes to driving operational improvement, there is no added value in data accurate to the second. But data that provides direction is all the more valuable.

Whether a security gate opened 32 or 36 times during a shift is irrelevant. Knowing why that gate opens so often is all the more important!

result

  • Detecting non plausible entries and giving correct feedback
  • Friendly feedback for users ánd later detection e.g. for team leaders
  • Charts based on non plausible data are marked
  • Operators, Team-leaders or Administrators can validate large amounts of data (queried or not) to find out instantaneously where to find flaws in the imported or entered data.
  • Structural mistakes, such as maximum speed defined to low, can be adapted automatically, applying queries such as machine, data-range etc. Generating information based on invalid data will be detected in order to prevent erroneous charts etc.
  • Sequential Time registration:  No time gets ‘lost’ nor can time be registered redundant. The systems keeps monitoring all entered data and will give feedback when something looks not very plausible.

08
Up- and running within 24 hrs

With a bit of preparation it is possible to get your OEE registration up and running within 24 Hrs;

result

  • Install Software
  • Define OEE parameters
  • Train shopfloor people
  • Start data collection
09
Training, support and implementation

Although it is a very powerful tool, it can only be fully utilized when fully understood. Not the software is the heart of its revenues, it is the way it is being used. It’s implantation will be guided by a network of highly experienced improvement teachers and consultants in the field of TPM, Lean and Monozukuri.

 

result

  • You will have your personal coach that will provide the first line helpdesk.
  • A comprehensive online help system is available
  • You will have access to a service portal
  • There are several blended learning modules available
  • ‘‘improvement’ does not so much come from connecting technology, but rather from connecting technology and people. That is where our passion, skill, and expertise lie.
10
ROI of just months

The golden rule for ANY OEE implementation: if you cannot earn it back in just a few months this means something is very wrong.

no result

  • Was is FAR too expensive?
  • Was it not used at all?
  • Couldn’t you resist micro-management?
  • Did you hide all the potential improvements from the OEE definitions?
  • Did you exclude the people that could do the improvements for you?

Don’t fall for false promises. Demand firm guarantees!

result

  • An improvement of €100,000 is definitely realistic. The question is: per year or per
    month.
  • Eliminating OEE losses not only has a direct impact but also significant consequences: flexibility, reliability, safety, speed, etc.
  • Put an end to pointless and frustrating meetings and tackle the real problems head-on
  • Grow people so they wil grow productivity.

Every factory, every machine is unique

Just like human beings, every machine is unique, every process has its own dynamics and even on two identical machines, different product mixes will give a different dynamic.
And yet it is our challenge to visualize the losses on each and every machine in your factory…

Whether batch, process or discrete: your OEE software should be able to handle it

Just to give you a clue of the issues it’s meant to solve:

  • Machines generating several products in parallel
  • Arrays of machines simultaneously generating different products
  • Environments working in metric AND imperial measures
  • Environments where output is determined by several values
  • Environments using different shift models
  • Machines using extreme different cycle-times
  • Machines running un-manned

Additive Industries

  • Multi Jet Fusion (MJF)
  • Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM)
  • Selective Laser Sintering (SLS)
  • Stereolithography  (SLA)
  • Powder Cleaning
  • Colouring

Aerospace

  • Grinding
  • Polishing
  • Casting

Automotive

  • Alloy Casting
  • Acoustic damping parts pressing
  • Stamping
  • Pressing
  • Milling
  • Tyre production
  • Paintshop
  • Robot welding
  • Bolt making
  • Metal forming
  • Windshields

Beer & Beverages

  • Brewing
  • Keg-, Bottle-, Can filling
  • Capping
  • Labelling
  • (De)palletizing
  • Pasteurizing
  • Boxing

Chemical

  • PU in batch
  • PU continuous
  • PU Packaging
  • Alkyd & Acryl Batch & Packaging
  • Drum Packaging
  • Nafta Cracking

Electronics

  • Connector stitching
  • Print Assembly
  • Reflow and Wave soldering

Food

  • Meat processing
  • Packaging in a protective atmosphere
  • Autoclave
  • Canning
  • Clipping
  • Baking
  • Frying
  • Fermenting
  • Smoking
  • Peeling
  • Cutting, Slicing, …
  • Sorting

Metal & Heavy Industries

  • Cement oven
  • Cement milling & packaging
  • Sea harbour cranes
  • Metallurgy
  • Rolling
  • Slitting
  • Profiling
  • Seaming
  • Welding

 Medical

  • Syringes
  • Medical devices
  • Chirurgical devices
  • Catheters
  • Bandage
  • Absorbents
  • MRI & CT scanners

Metal & Heavy Industries

  • Cement oven
  • Cement milling & packaging
  • Sea harbour cranes
  • Metallurgy
  • Rolling
  • Slitting
  • Profiling
  • Seaming
  • Welding

Paper – Board – Foils

  • Calendars
  • Aluminium/Paper/Foil Laminators
  • Slitters
  • Corrugated Boards
  • Rotating & Flat Stamping
  • Laser Cutting
  • Offset Lithography
  • Screen printing
  • Flexographic printing
  • Embossing

Pharma

  • Powder- liquids- and ointment mixing
  • Tablet pressing
  • Blistering
  • Ampoules
  • Capsules
  • Boxing
  • Labelling

Exceptional situations

Future proof OEE software should be able to handle any Equipmentand ANY process, so even when yours is exceptional.

  • 2D and 3D parameters?
  • Metric and imperial measures?
  • Parallel output of different products AND speeds?
  • Multilingual population?

Tips for a Successful Rollout

  • Start with one machine — experience and learn ho it works
  • Prove the ROI before scaling.
  • Define clear data quality ownership from day one.
  • Tie KPI reporting daily shift standup meetings for instant adoption.
  • Capture a pre-go-live baseline OEE to measure improvement against.
  • Train operators AND management.
  • Set a monthly review to assess whether KPIs are moving.
  • Follow up on improvement progress.
  • Plan an imprvement path — your OEE needs will grow with maturity.
  • Celebrate succes,  improve mistakes and flaws

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
ABOUT OEE COACH SOFTWARE

FAQ about Choosing – Buying – Implementing the OEE Coach

Can OEE COACH be used in our (Process/Batch/Discrete) Industry?

Yes. OEE Coach is designed to visualize ANY loss on ANY type of equipment.

It is not only highly configurable, after 25 years of experience on more than 5000 machines, we have also build in tons of features to cope with specific situations.

Whether you run a cement-mill, a brewery, a packaging line or a press with parallel output: OEE Coach will handle it!

It was our challenge to facilitate all those different situations and still have one generic software that looks and feels the same, all over your machines, departments and plants. Because standardization is one of the fundamental keys in continuous improvement. Practice what you preach!

What makes OEE Coach different from other OEE Software?

1. It’s history

OEE Coach is made by Arno Koch who made the first generic OEE Software ever in 1995. OEE Coach is a complete new redesign and rebuild, based on 25 years experience on more than 5000 machines in all industries all over the world.

2. It’s philosophy

The majority of other OEE packages can be distincted in 3 categories:

  • Software that is named to be an OEE software, but actually does not take into account the OEE definitions and requirement by only showing an OEE number and some actual speed- and quality values; however there is no proper analysis possible and no operator involvement required.
  • Software that is written for management only: “We show you how your factory is doing”. Often ‘Command and Control’ tools, using a Top Down approach, not supporting ‘daily management’ features, not to be used by the shopfloor operative.
  • Software trying to visualize losses yet taking an approach that does not lead to continuous improvement. Typically using high-level KPI’s that can hardly be influenced by the shopfloor or even triggers a counterproductive behaviour.

OEE Coach is different. It’s philosophy is fully based on triggering and supporting the behavior needed to support an effective Continuous Improvement process. This is a delicate mechanism that requires a profound knowledge of the transition to a loss-free manufacturing process. OEE Coach contains the practicalities of that knowledge.

3. Its Data Correctness

Precise versus Correct

It is often promoted that having a fully automated data collection, fully excluding the operator, would automatically lead to correct OEE data. (Un)fortunately this is not true. There is an important difference between PRECISE and CORRECT data. Registering a down-time in milliseconds may lead to a very precise registration; but when it is wrongly labeled ‘maintenance’ instead of an actual ‘breakdown’  this would lead to very precise but wrong data.

Built-In Intelligence

When converting and importing external databases, we experience almost standard literally thousands of incorrect registrations.

This is why OEE Coach has built-in intelligence to plausitize, judge and predict the potential correctness of the data it receives; no matter in what form. It gives immediate and useful feedback to the user, teaching him about his mistakes, guiding him what to do, visualizing whether his data is likely to be correct or not.

Supervisor support

It also has mechanisms to support the supervisor to quickly learn about data entry issues and securing correct(ed) data, as well as mechanisms to correct a common mistake that occurred over a longer period of time by batch-updating it to the correct value.

OEE Coach is the only software with such approach on this level.

4. Its Configurability

When selecting your OEE software, we understand how difficult it must be to select the right one. Many may look great, show nice colorful gauges and promise gorgeous bla bla… But what when you discover after all the efforts of training all your users, setting up all kind of technology, that the software can not cope with certain situations? Can not provide some essential information? Is lacking essential data etc.?

OEE Coach is designed to visualize ANY loss on ANY equipment by the shop floor users itselves. To achieve this, it is highly configurable. Whether you have one- or multiple outputs, fixed or variable shifts, different languages, imperial and metric units of measure or different shift schedules, just to mention some of the issues; OEE Coach will cope with it!

5. Its Speed

When analyzing and crunching years of data, most software makes the user wait and wait. OEE Coach, by its design, is extremely fast. Even during very complex analyses over thousands of shifts, the user never experiences long delays. We are annoyed for every waiting time longer than a few seconds…

6. Its ease of implementation

OEE Coach is build to be setup (technically) in just a few minutes by your own IT staff. The configuration to adopt to your specific local situation is done as part of the training of the users and can be done by remote connections; which takes rather hours than days.

Getting the operators to understand the software is a matter of hours since it is designed to very intuitive. And at the start our facilitators can guide the teams remotely to get the registration up and running within days correctly and smooth.

7.  Its excellent support

Changing situations, new questions, enhanced use of the product: there will be often moments you would like to have access to our support. Your local representative will take good care of you. An we will take good care of our people in the field; all of them are in one way or another experts either in OEE, SPC or both.

Our customer portal will give you access to our support team and where needed you can hire our expertise for issues beyond the software alone. This is an important distinction to IT- or sales driven providers.

8. Its future proof Roadmap

The Connected Factory vision

We have a clear and distinct vision what is needed to run an effective operation. Instead of collecting immense amounts of data but not providing the right information, OEE Coach starts with the needed information and collects only the data that is the raw material to this information.

Future Proof

We have seen a lot of ‘OEE software’ come and go again. We know of applications that are barely being developed any more. Or being developed in a questionable direction.

Installing OEE Coach gives access to a vibrant future in manufacturing support- and improvement software: Your investment will be well spent!

9. Its guaranteed ROI

We are not only convinced about the quality and effectiveness of our product, but also about the ability to find an excellent Return On your Investment.

If we -after a correct implementation- are not able to show you where and how to earn back the cost of our software, we will refund it.

As far as we know we are the only supplier to do so.

CONTACT US

How will you support us?

Your OEE Coach distributor speaks your language and knows your local situation. He/She will be your first point of contact. The OEE Coach experts will back-up for more complex- or specific issues.

You will have access to our customer support system.

Here your (designated) users can file questions, requests and issues. Besides, we have the OEE Academy where  dozens of answers to frequently asked questions can be found.

And if you still get no solution, our experts will dive into the matters and get you going. Remember: we want to be able to prove the ROI of this software within a year!

Can we convert from our other OEE Software?

When you are an OEE Toolkit user:

We will convert your data for free; assuming it’s quality is good enough. OEE Coach is designed to validate data and does not accept data that can not be correct. We can correct many errors in batch.

Users that are used to OEE Toolkit will easily make the step to OEE Coach. The base idea and structure are very similar, although OEE coach is far more advanced and has a more modern user experience.

When you use another software

We will investigate the situation and tell you what is possible. Straight forward conversions we will do for free. For complex situations we will make a very reasonable offer.

We will train your users to understand the OEE Coach concept where it is different from your previous application. We are convinced your users will appreciate the advantages of OEE Coach.

How is your licensing set up?

You will purchase one base-license per site, plus a license for each machine to register and analyze.

This machine may have non- or multiple sensors (e.g. one for good output, one for scrap on a metaldetector and one for rework on a checkweigher).

As many PC’s/users as you like (and grant) can access,  analyze and report the data, from a any place you want them (since you love to spread the OEE information!) and you can cluster all your machines in lines, group, departments factories as you like. 

So ‘one machine’ is ‘one OEE’ is ‘one license’.

In this way, your first machine is the most expensive one. After that you just keep adding as needed.

If you have more than 50 machines to register, we provide a site license.

Remember: We want you to earn back this software in less than a year! 

How much does it cost?

May we rephrase the Question? “Can we earn back the cost of this software within a year?”

YES. Even better: We are so convinced of the value of an OEE Coach implementation, that we confidently offer a no hassle guarantee;

If we are not able to show you where and how to earn back the cost of our software within a year, we will give you a full refund of your investment into our software.“

(…of course providing you give us the data we need to do the math!)

We practice what we preach: “Deliver MORE value against LOWER cost”.

Since the actual cost of a license depends on several factors, we will be most happy to give you a custom quotation that will surprise you! Most budgets are below a one day’s burning-rate.

Contact us

Do I need to buy other elements to run this software?

Your license gives you access to everything normally needed.

To run the software you will need to have PC’s or tablets at the machine with an inter/intranet connection available to access the database. You may want to run your own (MS-SQL) database or use ours.

You also may want to use new sensors. We can provide a simple piece of hardware to access any binairy signal to detect output: no intelligence needed. Count for €300,- per machine when needed.

Features

What are the data-entry methods?

MANUAL SEMI-AUTOMATIC AUTOMATIC* AUTONOMOUS*
Automatic Product detection NO NO NO YES
Automatic downtime stopcode entry NO NO NO YES
Machine connection (i.e. sensor/plc) NO NO YES YES
Automatic production detection NO NO YES YES
Automatic downtime detection NO NO YES YES
Automatic counting number of products NO NO YES YES
Automatic shiftplan integration NO YES YES YES
Automatic tracking of duration NO YES YES YES
Automatic calculation of duration YES YES YES YES

* Running in automatic- or autonomous mode requires a connection to a sensor on the machine. Manual- and Semi-automatic modes can run without a sensor connection, which is preferred in the first period of the implementation in order to get the crew involved in- and aquainted with the data-gathering.

Can you show me more features?

Yes Please!

We give you a warm welcome to one of our personalized demo’s. Book yours here!

Challenge us with your questions!

(How) can it be setup for batch- and process industry?

OEE Coach can be freely configured to accommodate the visualization of any loss on any machine.

This means it can register OEE for machines with discrete-, batch- and process production.

Does Process Equipment require special criteria? 

Semi-Automatic

In semi-automatic mode (no electronic connection to the machine), the operator has to be able to detect whether the machine runs or not (‘does it have output?’) and how much output it has made in the timeframe it was running.

Automatic

In automated mode, a pulse has to be detected that tells us whether the machine runs or not, and how fast. 

If we can connect to such a pulse (5v), we can directly read it with our standard module. If not, we have to look into the specific situation. Usually there are ways to get this done in a simple yet effective way.

Definitions

The specific dynamics of this type of equipment may require to set up the loss-structure definitions in  such a way that alle losses will become visible. We will give you our expertise during the implementation.  

OEE Information

Can you recommend some books on OEE?

Find an overview on available OEE books here:

OEE Academy: Books

Where can I find information on OEE Definitions?

The OEE Industry Standard gives solid guidelines and argumentations how to proceed in order to make ALL losses visible.

Is there a FAQ - Knowledgebase about OEE?

Yes there is! The OEE Institute provides a comprehensive FAQ with the most asked questions in their OEE Academy

OEE Coach - A Value Driven Productivity Software

Sustainable Improvement, driven by the shopfloor, enabled by the whole organisation.
OEE productivity software that HELPS the team rather than HINDERS it