Free CMMS and OEE Tracker for Glass Manufacturing Plants
Track the losses that define a glass plant: furnace and forming stops, inspection rejects, and continuous-run drops, all for free. Bring in Fabrico when you are ready to automate the loop.
The short answer
- Free tool: log a shift on a furnace or forming line in about 2 minutes and get instant OEE, a downtime Pareto that ranks your big single stops, plus work orders, a PM schedule, and an asset register. No account.
- Honest limit: it is manual entry, you investigate the cause of each micro-stop yourself, and it runs on one device for one plant, with no PLC feed and no multi-site view.
- Where plants outgrow it: once you are running a tank, several forming machines, and cold-end inspection across shifts, hand logging every stop and reject cannot keep up.
- The upgrade: Fabrico reads OEE straight off your line PLCs, uses computer vision to find the true cause of each micro-stop with video evidence, and closes the loop into an auto-routed work order.
Glass plants lose output in a shape few other industries share: the furnace runs continuously, so a single unplanned stop on a forming machine or the cold end can bleed for hours, and every forming fault or inspection reject at the lehr is output you already paid gas and batch for. A generic maintenance log hides all of that. The free OEE tracker and light CMMS at OEE Lab surfaces it: log a shift and get instant OEE with a downtime Pareto that ranks your worst stops. New to the metric? Start with what OEE is and the real cost of downtime on a continuous line.
This page walks through what the free tool genuinely covers for a glass operation, where it stops, and what a plant graduates to once a tank and several forming machines run around the clock. On the free side you get downtime tracking, a work order board, and a preventive-maintenance schedule you control, all in the browser with no signup.
The honest version: the free tracker is manual entry, you investigate causes yourself, and it runs on one device for one plant. That is genuinely useful for a single line getting its first real numbers, and it beats a spreadsheet as a free CMMS and free OEE software starting point. It is not built for a glass operation that needs OEE read automatically off PLCs and work orders auto-routed, which is what Fabrico is for.
What you get, free
2-minute shift logging for furnace and forming lines
Log a shift on a forming machine or the cold end in about 2 minutes: run time, stops, and reject count. No spreadsheet, no paperwork, and it saves straight to your browser.
Instant OEE against a live benchmark
See availability, performance, and quality the moment you log a shift, with a comparison against the widely used 85% world-class OEE benchmark so you know where a continuous glass line actually stands.
Downtime Pareto for your big single stops
Every stop you log gets ranked, so you can see fast whether a forming-machine fault, a cold-end jam, or a long single stop is eating the most time on a given line.
Work order board and asset register for hot and cold end
Raise a work order the moment you spot a loss, and keep an asset register for the forming machines, the annealing lehr, compressors, and cold-end inspection gear, all free.
Preventive-maintenance schedule you control
Set PM intervals for forming-machine changes, mechanism servicing, or compressor checks, and the board tracks what is due, with people and roles on the device.
Per-machine breakdown, PDF report, export, and PWA install
Break OEE down per machine, print a PDF report, export your data as CSV or JSON with backup and restore, and install the tracker as a browser app on a shop-floor tablet.
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 glass shift by hand in about 2 minutes; data stays in your browser. | Reads OEE automatically off your forming and cold-end PLCs, no manual entry. |
| Micro-stop cause | You investigate each forming fault or short stop yourself and note the reason. | Computer vision identifies the true cause of each micro-stop, with video evidence. |
| Loss-to-fix loop | You spot a stop or a reject spike, then raise the work order yourself on the board. | A detected loss becomes an auto-routed work order, assigned automatically. |
| Scope | One tank or machine on one device and browser, best for a single line or shift. | The closed loop reads OEE off your line PLCs and auto-routes each detected loss into an assigned work order. |
| Integrations | Standalone; run it on its own and export data when you need it elsewhere. | Reads OEE off your line PLCs and closes the loop straight to an auto-routed work order. |
| Access and roles | Local device sign-in with people and roles on that one device. | EU-built and ISO 27001, 20000-1, and 9001 certified, so access and roles support audit-readiness. |
| Data residency | Data lives locally in the browser you use; nothing leaves the device. | EU-built with EU data residency. |
| Reporting | Instant OEE, a downtime Pareto, per-machine breakdown, and CSV/JSON export you run yourself. | Every logged loss carries computer-vision true-cause and video evidence, not just a number you typed in. |
| Continuous-run and inspection losses | Log long single stops and cold-end reject counts as your availability and quality losses. | Ties each micro-stop to a computer-vision true cause and an auto-routed fix. |
Frequently asked questions
Is this free CMMS actually free for a glass plant, or is it a trial?
It is free with no signup and no expiry. You open the tracker, log a shift for a forming line or the cold end, and it stores the data in your browser. There is no trial clock and no card required, so a single glass line can get its first real OEE numbers today.
How does the free tracker handle a long single stop or a short forming fault?
You log each stop with a reason and a duration, and the downtime Pareto ranks your worst causes so you can see whether long single stops, forming faults, or cold-end jams dominate. It will not tell you the true cause of a sub-5-minute micro-stop on its own; that is manual investigation on your side, which is exactly the gap Fabrico's computer-vision true-cause closes.
Can I track cold-end inspection rejects specific to glass?
Yes. The quality metric is generic (good units versus total units), so you log rejects such as checks, stones, blisters, or dimensional faults as your quality loss, and the tool rolls it into OEE and the benchmark. You tag each reject reason yourself; the free tool will not classify defect types for you.
Does the free CMMS side cover preventive maintenance for forming machines and the lehr?
Yes. You can build an asset register for the forming machines, the annealing lehr, compressors, and inspection gear, then set preventive-maintenance schedules and raise work orders on the board. It is manual: you decide when a PM is due and who does it, all on one device.
When do I need more than the free tool?
When one device and one plant stop being enough. The free tracker is ideal for a single line getting started, but once you are coordinating a tank, several forming machines, and cold-end inspection across shifts, hand logging every stop and reject cannot keep up. That is the point to book a Fabrico demo: OEE read straight off your PLCs, with the true cause of each micro-stop and an auto-routed work order.
Is my glass plant's data safe if it just lives in the browser?
It stays local on the device you use and nothing goes to a server, which is fine for a single line getting started. You can export CSV or JSON and back it up whenever you want. Once security posture matters at scale, that is where Fabrico fits: EU-built with EU data residency and ISO 27001, 20000-1, and 9001 certification, which supports audit-readiness.
When free is not enough, Fabrico is the upgrade
Once a glass plant is running a tank and several forming machines around the clock, manual shift logging and chasing every stop and reject by hand becomes the bottleneck, not the fix. Fabrico reads OEE automatically off your line PLCs, then uses computer vision to identify the true cause of each micro-stop with video evidence. It closes the loop by turning a detected loss straight into an assigned, auto-routed work order. It is EU-built with EU data residency and holds ISO 27001, 20000-1, and 9001 certification, so it supports audit-readiness as you scale. Book a demo to see it running on a forming line's real data.
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