Free CMMS and OEE Tracker for Packaging Plants
Track the losses that actually hit packaging and converting lines, web breaks, splice and colour changeovers, cartoner and palletizer jams, free in your browser, then see how Fabrico automates the same losses off your PLCs.
The short answer
- Start free: the OEE Lab tracker at oee-tracker.html logs shifts in about 2 minutes with packaging-specific downtime codes (splice, changeover, web break, jam), no account needed.
- What you get: instant OEE, a downtime Pareto, a work orders board, PM schedule, asset register, and CSV/JSON export, all free and local to your browser.
- Its honest limit: you still enter shifts by hand and chase the fast web-break and jam causes yourself, it runs on one device for one plant.
- When to upgrade: once web breaks and cartoner jams need automatic PLC capture and computer-vision true-cause across multiple lines, book a Fabrico demo.
Packaging and converting lines lose OEE in short, fast bursts. It is rarely one big breakdown. It is a web break every hour on the laminator, a register kick that scraps a run of print, a splice changeover between reels, a cartoner that misfeeds, and a palletizer that faults on a bad pick. Each stop is a minute or two, and because the lines run so fast, a handful an hour quietly swallows real capacity that an hourly count never shows.
The free OEE tracker is built for exactly that: log a shift in about 2 minutes, tag stops with your own packaging reason codes, and get a downtime Pareto that shows which loss (make-ready, web breaks, short stops) is actually costing the most. No account needed, no software to install, data stays in your browser.
Start with the tracker to get honest numbers on the table. If you want the size of the prize first, run your numbers through the downtime cost calculator or the hidden factory calculator. Once a line is serious about catching the fast losses and closing the loop, that is where Fabrico comes in.
What you get, free
2-minute shift logging
Log run time, stops, scrap, and good count for a shift in about 2 minutes. Set your own downtime reason codes for the ones that hit converting and packaging lines hardest: splice changeover, colour changeover, web break, register fault, jam, and checkweigher reject.
Instant OEE + downtime Pareto
Get availability, performance, and quality the moment you save a shift, plus a downtime Pareto that ranks make-ready, short stops, and scrap so you know which loss to chase first.
85% world-class benchmark
Every shift is compared against the standard 85% world-class OEE figure, so you can see how far short a press or packer is running and track the gap over time.
Work orders board
When a shift log turns up a jam-prone cartoner or a tension fault that keeps breaking the web, raise a work order right on the board and track it through to done.
Preventive maintenance schedule + asset register
Keep a register of presses, laminators, slitters, cartoners, and palletizers with PM schedules attached, so routine maintenance does not get lost between jobs.
Shareable scorecard, CSV/JSON export, installable PWA
Export your data whenever you need it elsewhere, share a scorecard with a line lead or plant manager, and install the tracker as an app on a shop-floor tablet next to the press.
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, including splice and changeover blocks, data stays in your browser. | Reads OEE automatically off your press and packer PLCs, no manual entry. |
| Micro-stop cause | You investigate web breaks, register kicks, and cartoner jams yourself and note the reason. | Computer vision identifies the true cause of each micro-stop, with video evidence, exactly the fast failure mode that dominates converting lines. |
| Loss-to-fix loop | You spot the recurring jam or splice pattern, 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 plant on one device and browser, best for a single line or shift. | Plant-wide and multi-site from one central cloud view, useful once you run several converting lines or sites. |
| 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. |
| Security posture and residency | Data stays local in your browser, on the device you use. | EU-built with EU data residency, outside the reach of the US CLOUD Act, and supports audit-readiness (ISO 27001, 20000-1, 9001). |
| 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. |
| Scale | The best genuinely free way to start on one line, today. | The professional platform you graduate to once web breaks and short stops need automatic tracking across every line. |
Frequently asked questions
Is the OEE Lab tracker really free for a packaging plant?
Yes. Open the free OEE tracker and start logging shifts with no signup and no account. Your data stays in your browser on the device you use, and you can export to CSV/JSON any time.
How do I quantify web breaks and short stops on a high-speed line?
Set web break, splice, register fault, and jam as your own downtime reason codes, then log every stop against them per job. The downtime Pareto then shows the true make-ready and short-stop cost that an hourly count hides. See what is OEE for how these roll into availability, performance, and quality.
Can it handle colour and job changeovers with make-ready waste?
Yes. Log the changeover time as downtime and the start-up scrap against your good-count, and the tracker separates the availability loss from the quality loss so you can see which side of make-ready is costing you more.
What is a good OEE benchmark for a converting or packaging line?
The free tracker benchmarks every shift against the widely used 85% world-class OEE figure. High-speed converting lines often sit well below that once splice changeovers and sub-5-minute web breaks are counted honestly. Run the numbers in the OEE benchmark report.
When does a multi-line converting plant outgrow the free tracker?
Once manual shift entry becomes the bottleneck across several lines, or you keep re-investigating the same web-break and jam causes shift after shift. That is the point to book a Fabrico demo and see automatic PLC-read OEE with computer-vision true-cause.
Do free CMMS tools like MaintainX or Fiix work for a packaging plant?
They can get reactive maintenance off paper fast. MaintainX is strongest for lightweight, mobile-first work-order coordination, and Fiix offers a free tier for core CMMS record-keeping. Both center on work orders, so OEE and micro-stop analysis is where the OEE Lab tracker fits alongside a CMMS. Most free CMMS tiers cap users, assets, or history and act as on-ramps to paid plans, so check the limits before you standardize on one.
When free is not enough, Fabrico is the upgrade
The free tracker gets a packaging line honest numbers fast, but the losses that dominate converting (frequent sub-5-minute web breaks, register kicks, and cartoner jams, plus splice and colour changeovers) are exactly the ones that are hardest to catch by hand at line speed, shift after shift. Fabrico reads OEE automatically off your press and packer PLCs, uses computer vision to identify the true cause of each micro-stop with video evidence, and closes the loop by auto-routing a work order the moment a jam or splice pattern repeats, across every line and every site, built and hosted in the EU.
Book a Fabrico demoMore free software: All free software · Free CMMS and OEE Tracker for Pharmaceuticals Plants · Free CMMS and OEE Tracker for Plastics and Injection Moulding Plants · Free CMMS and OEE Tracker for Aerospace Plants · Free CMMS and OEE Tracker for Automotive Plants
Free OEE tracker · OEE calculator · CMMS ROI calculator · Downtime cost calculator · Hidden factory calculator · What is OEE