From Measurement to Profit: IT-Enterprise Shares at an EDIH Kyiv HiTech Webinar How Ukrainian Manufacturers Can Effectively Use OEE
Ukrainian industry is moving from a theoretical understanding of OEE (Overall Equipment Effectiveness) to the practical implementation of tools for accurately measuring and improving it. This was the focus of the webinar “OEE: From Measurement to Improving Productivity,” organized by the EDIH Kyiv HiTech* consortium with the participation of system integrator IT-Enterprise.
During the event, experts, developers, and representatives of industrial companies discussed the key barriers to manufacturing digitalization, approaches to identifying “hidden profit,” and practical steps toward gradual automation. According to a survey of webinar participants, the biggest challenges for companies remain the manual collection of data for production KPIs and a lack of confidence in the accuracy of the methodologies used to calculate them.
As experts noted, OEE is one of the most effective KPIs for identifying hidden productivity reserves, including micro-stoppages, reduced operating speed, lengthy changeovers, and defects. However, simply measuring the metric does not automatically increase profitability. Effective management requires a clear chain of actions: OEE → loss structure → root causes → responsible teams → corrective actions → results verification.
In his presentation, IT-Enterprise speaker and AI Analyst Oleksandr Ochkasov emphasized that companies should not try to digitally transform their entire equipment fleet at once. Instead, they should start by understanding where and why losses occur.
“OEE is not just another KPI for reporting. It is a tool that helps move from the subjective feeling that ‘we are losing something somewhere’ to a precise understanding of where, how much, and why. To start working with OEE, there is no need to immediately implement complex and expensive automation systems. At the first stage, data on shift duration, downtime, and the volume of good products can even be collected manually or using a combination of methods. The key is to understand the structure of losses, because automation becomes necessary when there is a clear understanding of what exactly we are measuring,” said Oleksandr Ochkasov, AI Analyst at IT-Enterprise.
The IT-Enterprise expert also demonstrated how relatively small losses in each of the three OEE components — availability, performance, and quality — can produce a significant cumulative effect. For example, with availability at 86%, performance at 83%, and quality at 95%, the resulting OEE is only ~68%, indicating that almost one-third of the equipment’s potential is being lost.
During the discussion, participants explored the relationship between OEE and the Theory of Constraints (TOC). The experts concluded that the two approaches complement each other: TOC helps identify the system constraint, or “bottleneck,” where improvements will generate the greatest financial impact at a given moment, while OEE provides continuous monitoring of equipment effectiveness within the production flow.
The recommended implementation roadmap for companies, developed based on the webinar, includes:
- Assessing and selecting critical equipment (or the production constraint).
- Auditing data and running a local pilot to measure OEE.
- Automating data collection through direct data acquisition from PLCs/controllers, adding sensors, or integrating with ERP/MES.
- Conducting an in-depth analysis of loss causes and implementing projects to minimize them.
- Gradually scaling the solution across other equipment in the production fleet.
With flexible monitoring and analytics tools, IT-Enterprise solutions, including production management, quality management, and equipment maintenance, enable companies to build a transparent system for managing manufacturing efficiency — from initial pilot lines to full-scale digitalization.
*EDIH Kyiv HiTech is co-funded by the European Union. The views and opinions expressed are solely those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Health and Digital Executive Agency (HaDEA). Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.
IT-Enterprise is a Ukrainian product IT company with more than 35 years of experience in supporting the digital transformation of the country’s largest real-sector companies. Its clients include Interpipe, Ferrexpo, Nibulon, DTEK, Ukroboronprom, Ukrposhta, Ukrnafta, Ukrzaliznytsia, and others.
Since the first days of the full-scale war, the IT-Enterprise team, together with government authorities, has been implementing projects that are critical to Ukraine, including humanitarian aid accounting, restoring procurement processes, and supporting business relocation.
The company’s Co-Founder and CEO, Oleg Shcherbatenko, is a consistent advocate of Industry 4.0 and Industry 5.0 approaches and technologies. IT-Enterprise develops its technological expertise through partnerships with Microsoft Azure, Oracle, Qlik, and Google.
Since 2014, IT-Enterprise has been developing AI infrastructure and has delivered more than 40 Industrial AI implementation projects. Its portfolio includes more than 1,450 completed projects across MilTech, agriculture, energy, retail, manufacturing, financial services, and banking.