Maintenance Matters Focus on: OEE 14 | Plant & Works Engineering www.pwemag.co.uk August/September 2025 OEE and the circular economy The EU has set its sights on carbon neutrality by 2050. The big question for manufacturers is: will your operations accelerate that future or hold it back? Thomas Feßl, Business Development Manager at automation supplier COPA-DATA, explores the importance of OEE for manufacturers looking to align with circular economy principles. The circular economy is a broad, systems-level approach to production and consumption that aims to keep materials, products and resources in use for as long as possible. It goes beyond recycling: it’s about designing out waste, maintaining value and closing material loops through reuse and remanufacturing. In manufacturing, this means rethinking not just what we produce, but how we produce it and how we can do so with fewer inputs, less waste and longer product life. From tracking materials to reuse models and reverse logistics, circularity requires change on many levels. One key metric to focus on in this transformation is Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE). OEE offers a powerful way for manufacturers to address core goals such as waste reduction, efficient use of resources and optimized asset performance - all of which lay the groundwork for a more circular future. Europe has made progress towards circularity by successfully decoupling economic growth from resource use and maintaining high resource productivity at over €2/kg since 2015. However, there is still work to be done. With 14 tonnes of material use and five tonnes of waste per person yearly, the challenge is huge. Recognising the need for action, in 2020 the European Commission launched the Circular Economy Action Plan (CEAP), a core element of the European Green Deal, that is pushing for smarter use of raw materials and tighter resource cycles across all industries. The plan seeks long-term sustainability while pressuring businesses to adapt and prove progress with data.? Economic forces are also pushing in the same direction. Energy prices remain volatile, global supply chains are fragile and margins are under pressure, making resource efficiency an economic imperative. From insight to action So where do manufacturers start? One powerful metric is Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE). Creating more value with fewer resources - extending product life and reducing waste — is central to the circular economy. OEE provides a practical framework to put these goals into practice on the factory floor. A circular economy not only supports sustainability but also drives operational efficiency - helping companies become more economically resilient in the process. Widely considered the gold standard for productivity monitoring, OEE offers a measurable way to improve efficiency and enable circularity. It monitors how well a manufacturing process performs by combining three core factors: availability, performance and quality. These factors are distilled into a percentage that helps businesses to identify and address potential areas of waste. Poor OEE can lead to unplanned downtime that causes excess waste, energy spikes from equipment restarts and machinery wear. Increasing availability can prevent this.
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