When to use "OEE Manager"

The PRIME "OEE Manager” software is unique, in that it is designed for use in manufacturing companies to provide all of the features that are necessary to support continuous improvement processes. It is a relational database using Microsoft Access, but with security features that are independent of Access.

The OEE management features in "OEE Manager" are comprehensive, and provide all of the modelling options necessary for the full range of manufacturing processes, backed up with a set of essential reports/charts for driving a Lean Manufacturing or TPM approach to performance improvement.

The CMMS functions in "OEE Manager" have been particularly designed for small/medium-sized manufacturing organisations, where the resources available for managing the work order and PPM functions is limited, and where  the requirement is for simplicity without sacrificing any of the essential elements needed to drive maintenance improvement.

Because "OEE Manager" is based on Microsoft Access it is an appropriate choice for most organisations, but may not be suitable in all situations. The guide below may be helpful for you to decide on the architecture you require.

· Microsoft Access is available with the Microsoft Office Professional suite of business products, therefore no additional database software is required if your company purchases computers with this suite of products already installed.

· A Microsoft Access database can hold all of the data needed for full OEE and maintenance history purposes in most enterprises (see later for exceptions to this general case).

· Microsoft Access is likely to be available and supported for years to come because Microsoft is the premier software company in the world.

· It is the most widely used desktop database system in the world.

· It can operate in a multi-user environment using client/server or LAN, or standalone.

· It has more support and consultants available than any other desktop database system.

· It is significantly cheaper to implement and maintain compared to larger database systems such as Oracle or SQL Server, and development work can usually be done inhouse by non-IT staff.

· Company consulting rates are typically lower for Access database consultants compared to Oracle or SQL Server consultants.

· Fairly complex databases can be setup and running in 1/2 the time and cost of other large database systems (the simpler the database the greater the cost advantage).

· Access integrates well with the other members of the Microsoft Office suite of products (Excel, Word, Outlook, etc.).

· Other software manufacturers are more likely to provide interfaces to MS Access than any other desktop database system.

· The Microsoft Office suite of software products is not in your company's approved technology set.

· You need to capture time-critical transactions - e.g., from a lab instrument

· Any single table in your database could have more than 1 million large to medium-width records, or 5 million small-width records (i.e. 3-4 numeric or short text fields). In practical terms, this means that a CMMS database will be able to hold over 20 years of job records if work is raised at a frequency of ca 100/day. This can be extended further by setting up an archiving arrangement and using union queries to combine data from both archived and current tables.

· You would regularly have more than 15 people actively using the database at the same time - for example quick data entry and/or queries and reports. In practical terms, this means that a maintenance department of over 50 people would be supported comfortably.

· Your database servers experience periodic, unexpected crashes - e.g. more than 1 per month (in this case you'll have problems with any database system).

· You require extensive database security because of the highly sensitive nature of the data. (Although you can get around this issue by using SQL Server as the database engine with an Access front-end.). Additionally, "OEE Manager" is built using a separate, password-driven security system that does not rely on standard Access security.

· You will be sharing the database with mixed operating systems (Windows 98, Windows ME, Windows 2000, Windows XP, etc).  See an article by Microsoft on how Access databases get corrupted.