Free CMMS and OEE Tracker for Nutraceuticals Manufacturing
Track the losses specific to supplement lines, tablet and capsule micro-stops, coating and blending stops, changeovers and quality holds, free in the browser, then let Fabrico automate the capture.
The short answer
- Start free: log a shift in about 2 minutes and get instant OEE, a downtime Pareto, and a work order board, no account, all in your browser.
- Supplement lines lose runtime to fast, repeating events, capsule and tablet press micro-stops plus coating and blending stops, that are hard to log by hand during a run.
- The free OEE tracker separates planned changeover and cleaning time from real micro-stop and reject loss, giving ops and quality one shared first view.
- When a plant needs automatic PLC-read OEE, computer-vision true-cause on micro-stops, and an audit trail that supports audit-readiness, Fabrico is the upgrade path.
Nutraceutical and supplement lines run an unusual amount of legitimate planned time. Cleaning between batches to avoid cross-contamination, frequent changeovers across many SKUs, and quality holds while blend uniformity or dissolution results clear are all necessary, not loss. The problem is that once you subtract all of it, plants still cannot always see where the rest of the runtime went, because the capsule jams, tablet press feed stops and reject ejections happen too fast and too often to capture by hand. Start by pinning down what OEE actually measures and what those short stops cost.
The free OEE tracker gives a tablet, capsule or coating line a fast, no-signup way to start separating planned changeover and cleaning time from genuine micro-stop and reject loss. Log a shift, get availability, performance and quality broken out, and see a downtime Pareto that tells you whether the biggest loss is changeover, feed-frame stops, capsule jams or checkweigher rejects. When a recurring fault shows up, raise it on the work order board in the same place.
This free layer is a starting point, not a system of record. It focuses on fast manual logging rather than reading your line PLCs automatically, and it will not tell you the true cause of a micro-stop the way Fabrico's computer vision does with video evidence. But it is the fastest honest way to get operations and quality looking at the same numbers this week, alongside the rest of the free manufacturing software and a quality tracking view.
What you get, free
2-minute shift logging
Log each shift's run time, output and rejects by hand in about 2 minutes, no account required, and the data stays local in your browser.
Instant OEE with A/P/Q split
See availability, performance and quality broken out immediately, so you can tell whether a slow run on the capsule line is a changeover problem or a reject problem.
Downtime Pareto
Rank your stop reasons, feed-frame stops, capsule jams, coating spray faults, checkweigher rejects, cleaning holds, so the next changeover review has real data instead of memory.
Work order board and PM schedule
Raise a work order when a tablet press or encapsulator keeps faulting, and keep a preventive maintenance schedule for coating pans, blenders and fillers.
Asset register, per-machine OEE and live benchmark
Register each line and machine, see OEE per machine, and compare shift performance to a world-class 85% benchmark on a shareable scorecard.
CSV and JSON export, PDF report, installable PWA
Export or back up your logs whenever you need them elsewhere, print a PDF shift report, and install the tracker as an app on a shop-floor tablet, no IT ticket.
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 tablet, capsule or coating line, data stays in your browser. | Reads OEE automatically off your line PLCs, no manual entry during a run. |
| Micro-stop cause | You investigate capsule jams and reject ejections yourself and note the reason. | Computer vision identifies the true cause of each micro-stop, with video evidence to review. |
| Loss-to-fix loop | You spot a recurring feed-frame or coating fault, then raise the work order yourself on the board. | A detected loss becomes an auto-routed work order, closing the PLC-to-work-order loop. |
| Scope and multi-site | One line on one device and browser, best for a single tablet, capsule or packaging line. | The closed PLC-to-work-order loop runs across every line in the plant. |
| Integrations | Standalone, run it on its own and export data when ops or quality needs it elsewhere. | Reads your line PLCs directly and routes the resulting work orders automatically, end to end. |
| Access and roles | Local device sign-in with people and roles on that one device. | Roles across the plant with an audit trail that supports audit-readiness (ISO 27001, 20000-1, 9001). |
| Data residency and audit posture | Data stays local in your browser, on the device you use on the line. | EU-built with EU data residency, plus an audit trail that supports audit-readiness (ISO 27001, 20000-1, 9001). |
| Reporting | Instant OEE, a downtime Pareto, a printable PDF report and CSV/JSON export you run yourself. | Live OEE straight from the PLC-to-work-order loop, so the numbers update without manual entry. |
| Changeover and cleaning time | Log cleaning, changeover and quality holds as their own reasons so they do not hide the real micro-stop loss underneath. | Reads the line automatically and names the true cause of the micro-stop loss underneath with computer vision. |
Frequently asked questions
How do I separate changeover, cleaning and quality-hold time from real downtime on a supplement line?
Log planned activities (changeover, cleaning between batches, quality holds) as their own downtime reason in the free OEE tracker, separate from unplanned stops like capsule jams or feed-frame faults. The downtime Pareto then shows real unplanned loss on top of the planned baseline, so a long SKU changeover reads distinctly from a press that keeps stopping mid-run.
Can the free tracker handle a tablet press, encapsulator, coating pan or blister line?
Yes. Set up each machine as an asset, log shifts against it, and use the downtime Pareto to see whether the dominant loss is feed-frame stops, capsule misfeeds, coating spray faults or checkweigher rejects. It works the same for blenders and bottling lines tracking weight, hardness or fill out-of-spec stops.
Does this help with GMP and Part 111 audit-readiness for dietary supplements?
It gives you a traceable local record of equipment and downtime that you export yourself, which supports internal visibility before an audit. No tool delivers audit-readiness on its own, that depends on your full quality system. Fabrico adds automatic PLC-read OEE and an audit trail that supports audit-readiness.
How is this different from a spreadsheet?
A spreadsheet is the true zero-cost default most plants start on. The free OEE Lab tracker gives you instant OEE and a downtime Pareto with no signup, plus a light work order board and PM schedule that go beyond a plain spreadsheet, all local in your browser.
Do I need a full managed system to start measuring OEE in a nutraceutical plant?
No. A browser-based tracker used for informal internal visibility is a reasonable first step before committing to a managed platform. Use it to build the baseline numbers and the business case, then evaluate a platform like Fabrico once you know where the real losses are.
When do I need more than the free tool?
When manual logging costs more than it saves. A plant running multiple tablet, capsule and packaging lines, or one that needs a defensible automatic record for an audit, typically graduates to Fabrico: automatic PLC-read OEE, computer-vision true-cause on every micro-stop with video evidence, a closed loop from detected loss to auto-routed work order, and EU data residency. Book a Fabrico demo to see it on your lines.
When free is not enough, Fabrico is the upgrade
The free tracker gets a supplement line honest numbers this week: real OEE, a downtime Pareto and a work order board, with no account and no rollout. It stays best for a single line getting started. A plant running rejects on a checkweigher every shift, or one that needs a defensible automatic record for an audit, is where Fabrico takes over: PLC-read OEE with no manual entry, computer-vision true-cause on every micro-stop with video evidence, a closed loop from detected loss to auto-routed work order, and EU-built hosting with EU data residency plus ISO 27001, 20000-1 and 9001 certification. Book a Fabrico demo and see what plant-wide, automatic OEE looks like on your tablet, capsule and coating lines.
Book a Fabrico demoMore free software: All free software
Free OEE tracker and light CMMS · All free manufacturing software · Free CMMS and OEE tracker for pharmaceutical plants · Free CMMS and OEE tracker for food and beverage plants · Free quality tracking software · What is OEE and how to measure it