The three bands of operational health
Benchmarks are only useful if they're honest. Instead of generic industry averages, we graded 62 lines against their own portfolio's steady-state and peak-stress cohorts. The result is a simple three-band diagnostic that tells you, at a glance, whether a line is losing capacity to fragmentation.
- Bands are set from the portfolio's own data, not generic industry averages.
- Optimised: interruption ratio below the 14.28% baseline.
- Critical: between 14.28% and the 19.82% upper control limit.
- Volatile: above 19.82%, where performance is lowest and the fragmentation gap widest.
Measure this on your own line. One sensor per line, live within 48 hours of the kit arriving.
Benchmarks that actually compare
Most operational benchmarks compare a line to a generic industry figure it has nothing in common with. That tells you almost nothing actionable. So instead of borrowing an average, we built the bands from the portfolio's own behaviour, 30 validated monthly data points across 12 operations, and let the data draw its own lines.
The scale is the interruption ratio: the share of a line's downtime made up of interruptions (what standard OEE calls minor stops or micro-stops) rather than longer coded breakdowns.
Two numbers that set the bands
Two cohorts defined the scale. A steady-state group, running calmly month after month, settled at a 14.28% interruption-ratio baseline. A peak-stress group, measured through its hardest stretch, defined a 19.82% upper control limit. Between and around those two numbers sit three bands:
- Optimised: below 14.28%. Stable flow, performance around 81%, and reporting you can trust.
- Critical: between 14.28% and 19.82%. Drifting. Not yet in trouble, but heading there without attention.
- Volatile: above 19.82%. Performance falls toward 69% and the fragmentation gap is at its widest.
Why the band is the diagnosis
Knowing a line's band answers the first question worth asking: is this line losing capacity to fragmentation, or is it genuinely constrained somewhere else? A Volatile band says the losses are in the pulse, and no amount of machine speed will fix them.
That makes the band a triage tool. Volatile lines get attention on their interruption causes first, because that's where the recoverable capacity is. Optimised lines can be pushed on other levers without wasting effort chasing stops that aren't the problem. Critical lines get watched so they don't slide.
One caveat before you trust a band
An interruption ratio can be distorted by the line's stop threshold, so a line can look Optimised while hiding a chronic problem. Always confirm the band against the line's Threshold Exposure Index before acting on it.
The three bands are one of the core frameworks in the Interruption Whitepaper.
What is the interruption ratio?
It's the share of a line's downtime made up of high-frequency interruptions, as opposed to longer coded breakdowns. It isolates process fragmentation from mechanical failure.
Why not use generic industry benchmarks?
Generic averages compare a line to operations it has nothing in common with. These bands are derived from 30 validated monthly data points across the studied portfolio, a steady-state cohort setting the 14.28% baseline and a peak-stress cohort setting the 19.82% upper control limit, so the comparison is grounded in real, comparable operations.
What does each band mean in practice?
Optimised lines have stable flow and clear reporting. Critical lines are drifting and need watching. Volatile lines are where performance collapses, from around 81% in the Optimised band to under 69% in the Volatile band, and where the fragmentation gap is widest.
See it on your own line.
A 30-minute call with a manufacturing specialist. We look at one of your lines together and show you what the first week of data would say about it.
- Live within 48 hours of your kit arriving
- One sensor, one terminal, no PLC and nothing to integrate
- R4,950 per line per month, ex VAT. 90 days, then a month's notice