Free CMMS and OEE Tracker Built for CPG and Consumer Goods Lines
Track the losses that hit packaging and consumer goods lines hardest, changeovers, micro-stops and short unrecorded gaps, free, then automate it with Fabrico when the plant is ready.
The short answer
- Start free: log shifts in the OEE Lab tracker in about 2 minutes, no account needed.
- See it instantly: OEE, availability, performance, quality, plus a downtime Pareto ranking your worst changeover and micro-stop losses.
- Fix it yourself first: raise work orders on the built-in board and run a preventive-maintenance schedule for changeover parts.
- Graduate when it hurts to do by hand: Fabrico reads OEE automatically off your PLCs, finds micro-stop causes with computer vision, and auto-routes the work order, across every line and site.
CPG and consumer goods plants lose most of their OEE to things that never show up on a shift-end report: a 40-second label jam, a cap feeder hiccup, a filler misfeed, a changeover that ran 8 minutes longer than the standard. None of these look big alone. Added up across a shift on a high-speed packaging line, they are usually the single largest loss category, bigger than the one big breakdown everyone remembers.
The free OEE tracker and light CMMS at OEE Lab gives a packaging or consumer goods plant a real way to start capturing this today. Log each shift in about 2 minutes, get an instant OEE breakdown with a downtime Pareto, and raise a work order the moment you spot a recurring cause, whether that's a worn changeover part or a sensor that keeps misreading. No account, no install required to try it, and your data stays in your own browser.
It is honestly a manual tool: you enter the shift, you investigate the micro-stop cause, you raise the work order yourself. For a single line or shift that's a fair trade for genuinely free. If you're running multiple SKUs across multiple lines and want the cause found and the work order created automatically, that's what Fabrico is built for. See how the free tool stacks up more broadly on the CMMS and OEE software guide.
What you get, free
2-minute shift logging
Log a shift's output, downtime and reasons in about 2 minutes, no setup call and no account needed to start.
Instant OEE breakdown
See availability, performance and quality the moment you save a shift, plus a downtime Pareto that ranks your worst offenders.
85% world-class benchmark
Compare every line and shift against a world-class 85% OEE benchmark so you know if a changeover-heavy shift is actually a problem or normal for CPG.
Work orders board and PM schedule
Raise a work order the moment you spot a loss, and run a preventive-maintenance schedule for changeover parts, fillers, cappers and labelers on the same asset register.
Shareable scorecard, CSV/JSON export
Export your shift history any time, or share a scorecard with a plant manager or line lead without giving them the raw tool.
Installable PWA, local roles
Install it like an app on a shop-floor tablet, with local sign-in so operators and leads on that device get their own login.
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, data stays in your browser. | Reads OEE automatically off your PLCs, no manual entry, even through frequent changeovers. |
| Micro-stop cause | You investigate sub-5-minute stops yourself, jams, misfeeds, label faults, and note the reason. | Computer vision identifies the true cause of each micro-stop, with video evidence. |
| Loss-to-fix loop | You spot the loss, then raise the work order yourself on the board. | A detected loss becomes an auto-routed work order, assigned automatically. |
| Scope and multi-site | One plant on one device and browser, best for a single line or shift. | Plant-wide and multi-site from one central cloud view, across every packaging line. |
| Integrations | Standalone, run it on its own, export data when you need it elsewhere. | Integrates with PLCs, MES, and ERP so OEE flows with your stack. |
| Access and roles | Local device sign-in with people and roles on that one device. | Org SSO with roles across the plant and a full audit trail. |
| 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. |
| Benchmark and scorecard | Compare to a world-class 85% benchmark and share a scorecard. | Continuous multi-site benchmarking with drill-down to line and asset. |
| Support and onboarding | Self-serve, start free with no account and no setup call. | Guided onboarding and ongoing support from the Fabrico team. |
Frequently asked questions
Is this free CMMS and OEE tracker really free for a CPG or consumer goods plant?
Yes. The OEE Lab tracker runs in your browser with no account and no time limit. You log shifts, get OEE plus a downtime Pareto, run a work orders board and a preventive-maintenance schedule, and export your data as CSV or JSON whenever you want it.
How is this different from a free CMMS trial like MaintainX, UpKeep, Limble or Fiix?
Those are real CMMS products with genuine free entry points, strongest for getting work orders off paper on a mobile-first app. OEE Lab's tracker adds an OEE layer (availability, performance, quality, and a benchmark against 85%) alongside a light CMMS, all local to your browser with no seat limits to plan around.
What does a CPG or consumer goods plant lose the most on?
Fast changeovers between SKUs, packaging-line micro-stops (jams, misfeeds, label and cap faults), and short unrecorded stops that never make it into a report. These sub-5-minute stops are usually the single biggest hidden loss on a high-speed packaging line.
When should a CPG plant move from the free tracker to Fabrico?
When manual shift entry can't keep up with changeover frequency, when nobody has time to investigate every micro-stop by hand, or when you're running more than one line or site and need one view instead of separate spreadsheets. That's when automatic PLC capture, computer-vision true-cause and a closed work-order loop start paying for themselves.
Does the free tracker work for multiple packaging lines?
It works well for one line or shift on one device and browser. If you're tracking several lines or sites and want them in one central view, that's the point where Fabrico's plant-wide and multi-site dashboards take over.
Is my production data safe using a browser-based tool?
Your shift data stays in your own browser storage on your device, it is not sent to a server. That's a real security posture, just a local one. Fabrico adds SSO, roles and an audit trail across the org that supports audit-readiness for standards like ISO 27001.
When free is not enough, Fabrico is the upgrade
A packaging line running multiple SKUs a day generates too many micro-stops for anyone to log and investigate by hand, and one missed changeover-part failure can cost a whole shift's run. Fabrico reads OEE automatically off your PLCs, uses computer vision to find the true cause of each micro-stop with video evidence, and turns a detected loss straight into an auto-routed work order, plant-wide and across sites, built and hosted in the EU. That's the point where a CPG plant graduates from tracking losses by hand to closing them automatically.
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