OEE in Facilities and Building Maintenance: How to Apply and Measure It, and More

For building maintenance and facilities management teams, understanding and applying OEE score offers opportunities to measure and improve the effectiveness of assets. OEE is commonly seen in the context of manufacturing, but its application expands across different domains; facilities and building maintenance is one of them. When teams understand each component of OEE, they gain clearer visibility into where assets deliver value and where they fall short.

OEE focuses on three key areas: availability, performance, and quality. These elements in the context of facilities, can offer avenues for better maintenance practices resulting in lower costs the way they do it for manufacturing. Any recurring inefficiency across these areas becomes easier to pinpoint once OEE is tracked consistently.

In this blog, we will explore the application of OEE in facility and building maintenance, its relevance outside manufacturing, and the specific challenges encountered when measuring OEE in such settings.

OEE Relevance Outside Traditional Manufacturing

Though OEE gained prominence in the manufacturing sector as a tool for tracking machinery and production efficiency, its applicability extends beyond factories. Facilities and building management teams can apply the same principles to assess the operational efficiency of critical assets like HVAC systems, elevators, lighting, and other building infrastructure. Key reasons to leverage OEE in facilities management include:

• Asset Utilization: Building systems run 24/7 and are integral to the overall operation. OEE offers a way to measure how well these assets perform, assess equipment performance, and identify potential areas of underperformance.
• Cost Control: Unplanned downtime, whether it’s a malfunctioning HVAC system or an escalator failure, can lead to high repair costs. OEE helps track how equipment efficiency fluctuates and supports maintenance teams in keeping assets functional.
• Resource Allocation: Facilities management comprises multiple tasks surrounding various assets. Through OEE measurement, teams can allocate resources more effectively, direct attention to assets that need repair or improvement while optimizing maintenance schedules. Issues like frequent reworks also become visible when the data is captured consistently.

Now, let’s see how each of the three elements of overall equipment effectiveness (OEE) apply to facilities management.

• Availability: In facilities, availability represents the uptime of a system like HVAC, lighting, or elevators, and tracks how much time it is functional versus downtime due to maintenance or failure. A higher availability score indicates better operational stability.
• Performance: The performance dimension of OEE in facilities will track how efficiently equipment runs. The scenarios could be how quickly an air conditioning unit cools a room or how well elevators function compared to expected or maximum speed.
• Quality: In facilities, quality can be associated with the reliability and performance of systems. There might be a lighting system that consistently dims when it shouldn’t or an elevator that stops mid-way would be considered lower quality. Strong quality control practices are essential to support this process.

OEE in Facilities management: Some examples

OEE dictates the effectiveness of various components of a facility, as we understand through the following key facility components:

HVAC Systems

Heating, ventilation, and air conditioning systems are some of the most energy-consuming and high-maintenance assets in any building. OEE can help track:

• Availability: Percentage of time the HVAC system is operational, factoring in failures, repairs, and maintenance.
• Performance: Efficiency of temperature regulation and air quality compared to set standards.
• Quality: Airflow consistency and temperature control throughout the building. If HVAC units consistently fail to meet temperature requirements, this will be a performance indicator.

Lighting Systems

Lighting is essential for building safety, comfort, and productivity. By using OEE, facilities teams can measure the three parameters as:

• Availability: Percentage of time the lights are on and functioning properly.
• Performance: The brightness and uniformity of the lighting. All areas should be sufficiently lit as per the building’s needs with minimal speed loss in automated lighting responses.
• Quality: Tracking issues like flickering or dimming over time, which indicates poor quality and the need for replacement or servicing.

Elevators and Escalators

OEE helps measure the effectiveness of elevators and escalators in commercial buildings as:

• Availability: How often the elevators and escalators are operational versus undergoing maintenance or breakdown.
• Performance: The speed and responsiveness of the units, so that they meet expected performance standards.
• Quality: Issues like malfunctioning buttons, noise, or jerking, which directly affect the passenger experience.

Security Systems

Surveillance systems, alarms, and access controls are vital to the safety of any building. Measuring the OEE of these systems focuses on:

• Availability: Tracking whether security systems are up and running without any interruptions.
• Performance: Cameras and alarm systems must function at expected levels, such as having the right field of view or timely alerts.
• Quality: Poor image quality or false alarms would degrade the quality of security operations, and tracking these issues will help in taking corrective actions.

How to Measure and Track OEE for Building Assets

The standard formula for OEE calculation is

OEE = Availability x Performance x Quality

So, to calculate OEE, you first need to calculate these three metrics and then track each continuously. Follow this process to track overall equipment effectiveness (OEE) in facilities management:

Step 1: Data Collection and Integration

To track OEE, facilities management teams need a robust system that can collect real-time data from assets. This could be done through:

• IoT Sensors: These can monitor everything from HVAC operation to lighting energy consumption.
• CMMS: Computerized Maintenance Management System (CMMS) tools help facilities teams log downtime, track repairs, and capture asset performance data.

Step 2: Availability Tracking

Availability is the measure of time an asset is available for use. In facilities management, tracking availability involves:

• Recording Downtime: Identify both planned and unplanned downtime. Maintenance schedules should be logged, but unplanned failures or outages (such as HVAC breakdowns) should be recorded to analyze asset reliability.
• Asset Uptime: Track when the asset is up and running successfully within its expected operating time window.

Step 3: Performance Monitoring

Performance focuses on how efficiently an asset operates during its uptime through:

• Tracking: Sensors can track the operation of HVAC units and check if they are delivering air at the correct temperature.
• Scheduled Testing: For equipment like elevators or lighting, performance checks can be scheduled to ensure they are running optimally.

Step 4: Quality Evaluation

Continuously monitor quality to identify when assets aren’t functioning as intended, which could lead to bigger issues down the road. To maintain quality, leverage

• Equipment Failure Logs: Track common failure types and their root causes which could be poor cooling from an HVAC system, poor visibility from lighting.
• Employee or Tenant Feedback: Gather tenant or employee feedback to identify areas for improvement linked to asset quality.

Unique challenges in facility OEE measurement

While applying OEE in a facility management context can deliver valuable insights, several challenges can emerge. These challenges are:

Data Collection Difficulties

Facilities management systems may lack the integrated data systems required for effective OEE tracking. Many building assets are not designed with data collection in mind, meaning that teams may need to retrofit equipment with IoT sensors or rely on manual data input.

Asset Complexity

Unlike machinery in a factory, building assets such as HVAC systems, elevators, and lighting can have more complex and multi-faceted performance metrics. For example, an HVAC system may not simply fail or succeed; its performance is impacted by numerous environmental factors such as the external temperature, humidity, and occupancy levels, making it harder to track.

Subjectivity in Quality Measurement

For assets like lighting or elevators, quality can often be subjective. What one tenant considers poor lighting may not affect another. Gathering actionable quality data thus becomes tricky without proper evaluation tools or feedback systems.

High Initial Investment

Implementing a comprehensive OEE tracking system can involve significant initial costs. Retrofitting existing equipment with IoT sensors, or adopting a full-fledged CMMS software, may come with a high price tag, making it difficult for some organizations to justify the investment upfront.

Frequent Changes in Asset Use

The use of building assets can change frequently depending on the time of year or changes in building usage such as in a retail space turning into a conference center. Tracking OEE in such an environment becomes more challenging, as the performance requirements might shift quickly and drastically.

Adopt Zapium for Successful Results

Practical steps such as clearer data practices, consistent evaluation methods, and smarter use of maintenance insights push facilities teams toward steadier asset performance in facilities.

Zapium is a modern CMMS platform that streamlines that shift. A cost-effective system tool, it supports asset tracking and effective preventive maintenance. With its AI-driven analytics capabilities, you can implement maintenance strategies easily and effectively.

Soon you will be able to set up a process that will improve and keep OEE above desired levels for the long-term. You will have at your disposal a practical route toward higher operational value and lasting advantage.