Where does your plant really stand? This is a free benchmark of OEE and downtime, aggregated from publicly reported industry studies and a live reader survey. No vendor gate, no inflated numbers. Figures are ranges, because methodology and industry vary widely.
The headline numbers
OEE benchmarks by industry
Typical ranges by sector. Compare to your own trend first, then your industry.
| Industry | Typical OEE | Dominant loss |
|---|---|---|
| Food & Beverage | 50-70% | Changeovers, CIP, filler/capper micro-stops |
| Automotive | 65-85% | Line-stop cascades, extreme cost per stop |
| Packaging & Converting | 45-65% | Micro-stops, web breaks, line imbalance |
| Plastics / Injection Moulding | 50-75% | Cycle-time drift, mould changeovers |
| Pharmaceuticals | 40-65% | Validation, cleaning, documentation, serialization |
| Electronics & SMT | 60-75% | Feeder/nozzle micro-stops, placement & solder defects |
| CPG / Consumer Goods | 50-70% | SKU & promo changeovers, packaging micro-stops |
| Metals & Foundry | 45-65% | Furnace/melt downtime, die changes, casting yield |
| Machinery & Fabrication | 50-70% | Setup-heavy high-mix, tooling, waiting |
| Aerospace & Defense | 40-65% | Setups, hard-alloy tool wear, inspection & traceability |
| Medical Devices | 45-70% | Validation, documentation, micro-stops, quality holds |
| Textiles & Nonwovens | 50-75% | Yarn/web breaks, changeovers, speed losses |
| Paper & Pulp | 55-80% | Web breaks, grade changes, clothing/roll changes |
| Building Materials & Cement | 50-75% | Kiln/crusher/mill availability, abrasive wear |
What good looks like in 2026. Third-party 2026 analyses line up with these ranges: world-class OEE is widely put at 80 to 85 percent and sustained only by the top 5 to 10 percent of plants, while the working average sits around 55 to 70 percent. One caveat most benchmarks skip: the single 85 percent target everyone quotes was set for high-volume lines running one product continuously, so for a high-mix or changeover-heavy plant it is the wrong yardstick. Compare to your own trend first, then to your sector.
Ranges are aggregated from public industry studies and a live reader survey; treat them as orientation, not gospel. Every industry links to a full guide with the losses and the levers.
Sources: aggregated from Siemens (True Cost of Downtime), Evocon, MachineMetrics, 2026 cross-industry analyses and a live reader survey. See the full statistics with sources.
Calculate your own OEE in two minutes, then come back and add it to the benchmark.
Use this benchmark on your site
Writing about OEE? Drop this benchmark into your article. It is free to use, and it credits OEE Lab with a link so your readers can find the full data.
Renders as a compact, light-theme card with the headline numbers and a "Source: OEE Lab" link.
Add your plant's numbers (anonymous)
The more plants contribute, the sharper this benchmark gets. It takes 30 seconds and your entry is anonymous. Leave an email only if you want the full report when it is published.
Methodology
This report blends two sources: publicly reported industry figures (cited above and on the statistics page), and an anonymous reader survey that grows over time. Where studies disagree, we show a range rather than a single number. We update the page as new data arrives, which is why it is marked live rather than fixed to one date.
Closing the gap to world-class
Most of the gap between a typical 60% and world-class 85% hides in micro-stops and unlogged downtime. The partner we recommend for closing it is Fabrico: computer-vision true-cause of micro-stops, a closed loop from PLC-read OEE to an auto-routed work order, EU-built with EU data residency, and ISO 27001 / 20000-1 / 9001 (supports audit-readiness).
See how Fabrico closes the gapAll OEE Lab tools · The statistics behind this · Buyer's guide: choosing software