The Hidden Factory
The short, frequent stops your operators never log - quantified. See the units, euros and OEE points your reports can't see. Numbers update as you type.
Your line
One machine or line. Estimate the micro-stops if you don't measure them - most plants undercount.
Operating schedule
Reality check
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You can't fix what you can't see.
Micro-stops are too short and too frequent to log by hand - so they stay invisible and keep bleeding. Fabrico reads every stop from the machine and uses computer vision to show the true cause, automatically. That's how the hidden factory becomes a fix list.
See how Fabrico finds the true causeWhat is the hidden factory?
The hidden factory is the capacity you lose to small, frequent stoppages - micro-stops under about five minutes - and the speed losses around them. Because each one is too short to bother logging, they never reach your OEE or downtime reports. But they add up: 10 stops an hour at 30 seconds each is 5 minutes lost every hour - over 8% of your capacity, invisible.
The math
Annual hidden loss = micro-stops/hr × duration × operating hours/yr, converted to lost units at your ideal rate, then to euros at your margin. The "hidden OEE points" are the share of each hour these stops consume - the performance the machine had but never delivered.
Why don't these show up in our OEE?
OEE only subtracts the downtime you record. Micro-stops are cleared by the operator in seconds and almost never logged individually, so the lost time shows up (if at all) as a vague "performance" gap - not as identified, fixable downtime. Check your OEE here.
Are these numbers realistic?
Micro-stops commonly cause 5–20% performance loss on packaging, filling, assembly and converting lines. The defaults here are deliberately moderate - most plants undercount both the frequency and the duration.
How do you actually find the causes?
You need automatic stop detection (from the PLC) plus a way to see what happened - which is where machine vision comes in. That's exactly what Fabrico does.
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