Machine Schedules

What are Machine Schedules?

Machine Schedules define shifts for calculating scheduled time and OEE Availability.

Access: Settings → Machine Schedules

Who Can Manage: Managers, Executives, IT Admins

Purpose of Schedules

Why Define Schedules:

• Calculate Scheduled Time for OEE Availability
• Determine when machines are expected to run
• Separate attended vs. unattended shifts
• Enable shift-based reporting

Impact on OEE:

Availability = (Running Time / Scheduled Time) × 100%

Scheduled time is the denominator. Without shifts defined, scheduled time = 24/7.

Creating Shifts

Step-by-Step:

1. Navigate to Settings → Machine Schedules
2. Click "Add Shift"
3. Configure shift:
   • Shift Name: Descriptive name (e.g., "First Shift", "Day Shift")
   • Start Time: When shift begins (e.g., 6:00 AM)
   • End Time: When shift ends (e.g., 2:00 PM)
   • Days: Which days shift runs (Monday - Sunday)
   • Shift Type: Attended or Unattended
   • Machine Group: Apply to specific group or all machines
4. Click "Save"

Example Shifts:

First Shift: 6:00 AM - 2:00 PM, Mon-Fri, Attended, CNC Mills
Second Shift: 2:00 PM - 10:00 PM, Mon-Fri, Attended, CNC Mills
Third Shift: 10:00 PM - 6:00 AM, Mon-Fri, Unattended, CNC Mills
Weekend Shift: 8:00 AM - 4:00 PM, Sat-Sun, Attended, CNC Mills

Attended vs. Unattended Shifts

Attended Shifts:

• All time during shift is scheduled
• Used for shifts with operators present
• Downtime during shift hurts Availability

Unattended Shifts:

• Only time when machine is active counts as scheduled
• Used for overnight or weekend shifts without operators
• Unattended Inactive Threshold (from Downtime settings) determines when machine is considered "unscheduled"
  • If inactive > threshold: Time becomes unscheduled (doesn't hurt Availability)
  • If active: Time becomes scheduled

Example:

Third Shift (Unattended): 10:00 PM - 6:00 AM
Unattended Inactive Threshold: 30 minutes

Scenario:
- Machine runs 10:00 PM - 2:00 AM (4 hours active) → Scheduled
- Machine idle 2:00 AM - 6:00 AM (4 hours idle > 30 min threshold) → Unscheduled

Scheduled Time: 4 hours (not 8 hours)

Non-Overlapping Shifts

Important Constraint: Shifts cannot overlap within the same machine group.

Allowed:

Group: CNC Mills
- First Shift: 6:00 AM - 2:00 PM
- Second Shift: 2:00 PM - 10:00 PM
- Third Shift: 10:00 PM - 6:00 AM
✅ No overlap

Group: CNC Lathes
- Day Shift: 9:00 AM - 5:00 PM
✅ Different group, can have different schedule

Not Allowed:

Group: CNC Mills
- First Shift: 6:00 AM - 2:00 PM
- Overlap Shift: 1:00 PM - 9:00 PM
❌ Overlap from 1:00 PM - 2:00 PM

Applying Schedules to Machines

Schedules are applied based on Machine Group:

• Create shift and assign to machine group
• All machines in that group inherit the shift schedule

Changing Machine Schedule:

• Move machine to different group (with different schedule)
• Or modify shift assigned to machine's group

Managing Schedules

Editing Shifts:

1. Click shift in list
2. Modify times, days, or type
3. Click "Save"

Deleting Shifts:

• Click "Delete"
• Historical data recalculates based on new schedule configuration

Important: Changing schedules affects historical OEE calculations (data recalculates).

Planned Breaks

Purpose: Define recurring break windows within a shift where downtime is automatically categorized as planned downtime, so metrics reflect only expected production time.

Access: Settings → Machine Schedules → Edit Shift → Planned Breaks

Prerequisite: Enable Exclude Planned Downtime from Scheduled Time in Settings → Downtimes. Without this setting, downtime will still be categorized with the selected reason, but Scheduled Time and related metrics will not be adjusted.

How breaks work:

• Configured at the shift level — apply only to machines in the schedule that contains that shift
• Must fall entirely within shift hours
• Automatically categorize idle time during the break with the selected downtime reason
• Apply from the date they are created forward — historical data is not affected
• Multiple breaks can be added to a single shift; breaks do not carry over between shifts

Note: Existing automatic downtime categorization rules covering the same time period are no longer required once a break is configured.

Example: Shift 9:00 AM – 5:00 PM with a Lunch break 12:00 PM – 1:00 PM. If the machine is idle for the full break, that hour is classified as planned downtime and excluded from Scheduled Time — OEE and Availability then calculate against a 7-hour expected production window.

Impact on metrics:

Metric	Impact
Scheduled Time	Reduced by planned downtime during breaks
Availability	Recalculated using reduced Scheduled Time
OEE	Recalculated
OOE	Recalculated
TEEP	Recalculated
Parts Goal	Recalculated using reduced Scheduled Time
Performance	No impact
Quality	No impact

Adding a Break to a Shift

1. Navigate to Settings → Machine Schedules
2. Select the schedule to edit
3. Click Edit on the shift
4. Scroll to Planned Breaks and click + Add
5. Configure:
   • Name — a unique name for the break (e.g., "Lunch", "Morning Break")
   • Start — time the break begins
   • End — time the break ends
   • Categorize as — downtime category to apply during this period
6. Click Save

Rules and constraints:

• Break start and end times must fall within shift boundaries
• Multiple breaks can be added per shift
• Breaks do not carry across shifts

FAQ:

• Do breaks affect historical data? No — breaks apply from the date they are created forward.
• What if a machine runs during a break? Production activity is recorded normally. Only downtime is automatically categorized.
• Do breaks carry over across shifts? No — each break applies only within the shift it is configured on.