Overall Equipment Effectiveness is a hierarchy of metrics which evaluates and indicates how effectively a manufacturing operation is utilized. The results take into account uptime (sometimes called availability), performance (which is production speed as a percentage of target speed), and quality, and are expressed as a percentage.
How much does it cost for your plant to be down or crippled for a day? A week? A month? Maybe more than the cost of your automation system. (Read how simulation avoids downtime...)
If you work in the food industry and are concerned about regulatory compliance, check out IPACT's HACCP application. (details...)