Free CMMS and OEE Tracker for Aerospace Plants
Track the losses specific to low-volume aerospace machining and inspection, free, then hand the true-cause detection and audit trail to Fabrico when the plant is ready.
The short answer
- Start free: log a shift on your busiest 5-axis centre or CMM station in about 2 minutes using the free OEE tracker, no account needed.
- See it instantly: get availability, performance, quality and a downtime Pareto that separates tool wear, changeovers, and inspection holds.
- Know the honest limit: you still tag the cause and raise the work order yourself, and it runs on one device, not across programs or sites.
- Graduate when it matters: when you need automatic PLC capture, computer-vision true-cause, and an audit trail that supports AS9100 or Nadcap reviews, book a Fabrico demo.
Aerospace runs low volumes with very high-value cycles, so a single idle 5-axis centre, a broken tool, or a part sitting in front of a CMM waiting for first-article sign-off is expensive but rarely logged as a discrete loss. Most plants either track nothing beyond a shift-end tally or default to a spreadsheet, which works until someone asks for a Pareto of the last month's stops.
The free OEE tracker gives an operations lead a real starting point: log a shift in about 2 minutes, get instant OEE with an availability, performance and quality split, and a downtime Pareto that separates tool-change stops from inspection holds from special-process waits. It also runs a work-order board and a preventive-maintenance schedule, so a single machining cell or CMM station can be managed end to end without buying anything.
It will not read your PLCs automatically, and it will not tell you why a stop happened, you still tag the reason yourself. That is the honest limit of any free, browser-based tool. For a deeper first pass, pair it with the downtime cost calculator or the hidden factory calculator before you decide what to automate first.
What you get, free
2-minute shift logging
Log run time and stops for a 5-axis centre, CMM station, or autoclave in about 2 minutes at end of shift. No account, no install to start.
Instant OEE with A/P/Q breakdown
See availability, performance and quality the moment you save a shift, so you know whether a bad day was a tool-change problem or an inspection-hold problem.
Downtime Pareto by reason
Tag stops as tool wear, program changeover, CMM/NDT hold, heat-treat wait, or your own custom reason, and the tracker ranks them so you know what to attack first.
85% world-class benchmark and shareable scorecard
Compare your line against a world-class 85% benchmark and generate a scorecard you can share with a program manager or plant manager.
Work orders, PM schedule, asset register
Raise a work order off a bad shift, schedule preventive maintenance on your machining centres and inspection equipment, and keep a simple asset list, all in the same tool.
Local sign-in, CSV/JSON export, installable PWA
Add people and roles on one device, export your data anytime, and install it as an app on a shop-floor tablet. Data stays in your browser, nothing leaves the device.
Log one shift and the free tracker shows your OEE, your loss Pareto and how you compare to world-class. Add work orders and preventive-maintenance reminders in the same place.
Where free stops, and Fabrico begins
The free tracker is built for getting started fast and for one plant on one device. When a site gets serious about its losses, the manual steps start to cost more than they save. This is exactly where Fabrico takes over.
| Capability | Free OEE Lab tracker | Fabrico |
|---|---|---|
| Data capture | Log each shift by hand in about 2 minutes on the 5-axis centre or CMM station, data stays in your browser. | Reads OEE automatically off your machine PLCs, no manual entry per shift. |
| Micro-stop cause | You investigate tool-change and short stops yourself and note the reason. | Computer vision identifies the true cause of each micro-stop on the machining cell, with video evidence. |
| Loss-to-fix loop | You spot a repeated tool-wear stop, then raise the work order yourself on the board. | A detected loss becomes an auto-routed work order, assigned automatically to the right technician. |
| Scope and multi-site | One cell or one line on one device and browser, best for a single machining centre or CMM station. | Plant-wide and multi-site view across every program and facility from one central cloud. |
| Integrations | Standalone, run it on its own, export data when a program manager needs it elsewhere. | Integrates with PLCs, MES, and ERP so OEE flows with your existing manufacturing stack. |
| Security posture and audit trail | Data stays local in your browser, on the device you use, with simple local sign-in. | SSO, roles, and a full audit trail that support audit-readiness for AS9100 and Nadcap reviews. |
| Data residency | Your data lives in your own browser storage on your device. | EU-built with EU data residency, outside the reach of the US CLOUD Act, relevant for European aerospace and defence suppliers. |
| Reporting | Instant OEE, availability, performance, quality, a downtime Pareto, and CSV/JSON export you run yourself. | Live plant-wide dashboards plus scheduled reports delivered automatically to program managers. |
| Scale | The best genuinely free way to start tracking one machining cell or inspection station, today. | The professional platform you graduate to once utilization and traceability matter across every program. |
Frequently asked questions
How do I baseline utilization on low-volume, high-value aerospace machining?
Start by logging every shift on the machine or cell that matters most, usually a 5-axis centre or a bottleneck inspection station. Record run time, every stop over a few minutes, and the reason (tool change, program changeover, waiting on CMM or NDT). After two to three weeks you have a real Pareto of where the hours go, not a guess. The free OEE tracker does this in about 2 minutes per shift with no setup.
What does an OEE tool need to support AS9100 and Nadcap audit-readiness in aerospace?
Auditors want to see that process control and downtime are tracked consistently and that records carry a clear history of who changed what. A spreadsheet can show the numbers but keeps little trail of who touched them. Fabrico reads OEE automatically off the PLC, keeps a full audit trail on every record, and applies SSO and roles across the plant, all of which support audit-readiness for AS9100 and Nadcap without ever claiming to make you compliant on its own.
Is the free OEE Lab tracker really free, and does aerospace data stay private?
Yes. There is no signup to start and no seat or asset cap. Your shift logs, downtime reasons and asset register stay in your own browser storage on your device, nothing is sent to a server. That is also its limit: it is one plant on one device, not a company-wide record.
Can this replace a full CMMS for an aerospace supplier with multiple programs?
For one line or one cell, yes, it covers work orders, a preventive-maintenance schedule and an asset register well enough to run day to day. Once you are managing several programs, multiple sites, or need the data to flow into MES or ERP, you have outgrown a single-device free tool and it is worth booking a Fabrico demo.
How is this different from Evocon's free trial or MaintainX's free tier?
Evocon is OEE-specific and trial-oriented, strongest for a first structured OEE read on a line. MaintainX and similar CMMS free tiers are strongest for mobile work-order coordination, and most free CMMS tiers cap users, assets or history as an on-ramp to their paid plans. OEE Lab's tracker combines a lightweight OEE read with work orders, PM schedule and asset register in one no-signup browser tool, useful as a first pass before you commit to any paid platform.
What losses are specific to aerospace that a generic CMMS might miss?
Long setups and program changeovers on 5-axis work, tool wear and breakage on hard-metal or composite cuts, first-article and CMM or NDT inspection holds between operations, and special-process stops on heat treat, autoclave cure or surface treatment. Generic CMMS templates often ship with general reason codes rather than ones tuned to these, so you frequently add your own categories, which the free tracker lets you do.
When free is not enough, Fabrico is the upgrade
Aerospace losses are concentrated in a handful of expensive events, a tool breaking mid-cut, a part stuck waiting on CMM sign-off, a furnace cycle that runs long, and a spreadsheet or free tracker can only tell you they happened, not stop them from recurring. Fabrico reads OEE automatically off the PLC on every machining centre and cell, uses computer vision to pin the true cause of each micro-stop with video evidence, and auto-routes a work order the moment a loss repeats, all with the audit trail and EU data residency that support AS9100 and Nadcap audit-readiness across every program and site. When one cell's free tracker turns into a program-wide traceability requirement, that is the moment to book a Fabrico demo.
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