OEE software that accounts for every lost minute.
OEE comes out of work your operators already do. Every pause is a categorised loss, every loss a live number, and the whole floor rolls up into KPIs and scheduled reports.
The pause is the record.
Machine downtime tracking happens at the station, not on a clipboard. When an operator pauses the timer, Bulk asks why, with their recent reasons first and the rest grouped as availability, performance and quality loss, and opens a downtime event that runs until work resumes.
One tap, one event
Picking a reason pauses the timer and opens the downtime event in the same step. Reasons set to require a comment ask for a short note first.
Resume closes it
Resume ends the downtime and starts a new running segment on the same jobs, so running time and downtime never overlap. Stop closes it too and saves the time to the jobs.
Even with no job loaded
Set downtime reason on the Home screen records a stop against the machine itself, so a breakdown between jobs still counts.
Switched on per machine type
OEE Downtime Tracking is set on each asset type. Where it is off, a pause simply pauses and no reason is asked.
Your stop codes, in your words.
Downtime reason codes live in one ordered list per site. Each code has a name, an OEE category and an optional loss type, and the pause picker, the timeline, the Pareto and every report group by the same list.
Start from a pack
Import Presets loads the generic reasons plus one of nine industry packs, from metal fabrication and CNC to food and beverage, and skips any code you already have.
Category first, detail if you want it
Availability covers breakdowns, changeovers, waiting and planned stops. Performance covers minor stops, reduced speed and idling. Quality covers startup and production rejects.
Make them explain
Switch on Requires comment and the operator must add a note when they pick that reason. The generic pack sets it for breakdowns, waiting for parts, running below speed and production defects.
History keeps its labels
Each downtime event keeps the category and loss type it was logged with, so tidying the list later does not rewrite past OEE.
The whole shift, minute by minute.
The OEE Timeline is the OEE dashboard for a line or a cell: one row per machine, running in green, every stop coloured by its loss category, an OEE score beside each row and the output at the end. The Users view draws the same picture per operator.
A score you can check
Each row’s OEE is its running time over running time plus downtime in the window on screen. Inactive time is left out, and the bar turns green at 85%, blue from 70% and amber from 50%.
Machines or people
The Assets view stacks machines. The Users view stacks operators by person-time, and clicking a name opens their employee record in People.
One hour to seven days
Step a day at a time, jump back with Show Today, or zoom from a single hour to a full week. The summary recalculates for exactly what is on screen.
Wrong reason? Fix the record.
Floors mislabel stops and forget to stop timers. A supervisor corrects the record on the timeline itself within 48 hours, and the score, the Pareto and every report read the corrected version, because there is no second copy to fix.
Change the reason
Right-click a stop and choose Change downtime reason. The loss category follows the new reason, and reasons that need a comment ask for one.
Drag the edges
Select a segment and drag either edge to the minute, or nudge it with the arrow keys. The jobs’ booked time is adjusted to match.
Fill the gap
Shorten a timer that overran and Fill gap with downtime offers the freed minutes as a stop with a reason, in one save.
Inside 48 hours
Only records that started in the last 48 hours can change, and only people allowed to enter timer time manually can edit them. Older history is read-only.
Where the hours actually went.
The downtime Pareto ranks every reason by time lost and draws the cumulative share against an 80% line, so the weekly review starts with the two or three causes that cost the most.
The vital few first
The biggest reasons get a bar each, the long tail folds into Other, and stops with no reason collect as Uncategorized, so the total always adds up.
Unplanned only, on the wall
On a teamboard, the Downtime Pareto widget can show unplanned downtime only, leaving out reasons with the Planned Stop loss type.
Click to narrow
Click a reason or a machine and the whole page filters to it. The scope sits in the page address, so a shared link opens the same view.
Against the last window
Total downtime, efficiency and utilisation each compare with the previous window of the same length, and the top loss shows its share of this window.
KPIs that fill themselves in.
Manufacturing KPIs are defined once, assigned to the sites that report them and fed from records Bulk already holds (downtime, timers, output, audits and incidents), or typed in when they live elsewhere. Targets are planned by the day, and each day’s actual is marked pass or fail against its target.
Five sources
Manual, Audits, Production, Incidents or Formula. A Formula KPI combines other KPIs, so a ratio stays in step with its parts.
Downtime as a number
The OEE events source counts events or sums time lost, filtered by category, loss type, reason or machine. The Timers source gives run time.
Targets on a month sheet
KPI Targets lays every KPI at the site against the days of the month. Type a value, paste a block or drag one across the week, and each cell saves on its own.
Pass or fail, by direction
Each KPI says whether higher, lower or an exact match is the goal. The KPI Table dashboard shows every day green or red; manual actuals come from a teamboard.
The morning report, already sent.
Production reporting without the Monday spreadsheet. Choose a report and its period, the days and time it runs and who receives it, and Bulk renders the PDF and emails each person a link to it.
A report for each audience
OEE Asset and OEE User reports sit beside Production Overview, Quality Overview, 5S Area and Pre-Use Checks, or a custom report laid out in the report builder.
Built from widgets
The report builder lays out A4 or Letter pages from headings, KPI metrics, gauges, charts including pareto, and data tables.
Every run on record
The History tab lists each run as queued, processing, completed or failed, with its PDF. Emailed links stay valid for 30 days.
Periods that roll forward
Yesterday, this week or last, this month or last, the last 7 or 30 days or this year, and the dates move with each run.
The raw rows, on a schedule.
When someone wants the OEE data itself, the export wizard turns a table, including every closed downtime event with its job and customer, into CSV, Excel or JSON, once or daily, weekly or monthly.
Downtime with its context
The OEE Records table exports each closed event with its reason, category, loss type, source and notes, plus the job numbers, part numbers and customers it touched.
Readable, not raw
Linked fields resolve to names or codes, lists can be joined or flattened, and dates take the format your team reads.
Save it, then schedule it
Save an export as a template and send it daily, weekly or monthly as an attachment or a link. Files stay downloadable for 45 days.
What OEE software should answer.
OEE software records when each machine runs and why it stops, then turns those records into an OEE score, a ranked list of losses and targets a shift can be held to. In Bulk every answer comes from the pauses, timers and counts operators already record.
| The question | How Bulk records it | Where you read it |
|---|---|---|
| Why did the machine stop? | Every pause on a tracked machine carries a reason from the site’s list, and the reason sets its loss category. | Select Pause Reason at the station, and the stop on the OEE Timeline |
| How much time did each cause cost? | Downtime events are summed by reason and coloured by loss type, with the long tail folded into Other. | Pareto for Downtime in Dashboards |
| What was each machine’s OEE? | Running time over running time plus downtime for the window, with inactive time left out. | OEE Timeline, Assets view, and the OEE Asset Report |
| What is down right now? | Open downtime events with the machine, the reason and how long they have run. | The asset board and the Live Downtime Feed |
| Who was working, and how productively? | Timer sessions and downtime by the person who started them. | OEE Timeline, Users view, and the OEE User Report |
| Are we on target? | KPIs fed from downtime, timers and output, marked pass or fail each day. | The KPI Table in Dashboards, and teamboards |
| Can a wrong record be fixed? | Reason changes, resized segments and filled gaps edit the source records within 48 hours. | OEE Timeline, right-click a segment |
| Can we take the raw data? | Closed downtime events export with their jobs, parts and customers. | Exports, the OEE Records table |
One stop, counted everywhere.
A downtime event is written once at the station. Boards, KPIs, reports and the people records all read that same event, so the wall screen, the KPI and the morning PDF agree.
- ProductionA station pause opens the downtime event; resume or stop closes it.
- QualityStation quality counts feed Right first time KPIs and quality reports.
- AuditsAudit results feed KPIs, and audit reports run on a schedule.
- SafetyIncident counts become KPIs in the same table as downtime.
- PeopleThe Users timeline opens each operator’s employee record from their row.
- DashboardsOEE for Assets, Pareto for Downtime and KPI Table open full screen.
- TeamboardsKPI status shows on team boards, where the day’s actuals are entered.
- Digital TwinThe Digital Twin (beta) shows linked machines’ OEE and open downtime.
Questions, answered.
What is OEE software?
OEE software records when each machine runs and why it stops, and turns that into an OEE score and a ranked list of losses. In Bulk the record starts at the station: an operator pauses the timer and picks a reason, and the reason files the stop as availability, performance or quality loss.
What is downtime tracking software, and how does Bulk track machine downtime?
Downtime tracking software records when each machine stops, for how long and why, so the biggest losses can be ranked and fixed. In Bulk the operator pauses the station timer and picks a reason, which opens a downtime event that runs until work resumes or stops, and a breakdown between jobs can be recorded against the machine from the Home screen. OEE Downtime Tracking is switched on per asset type. Each event feeds the OEE Timeline, Pareto for Downtime, KPIs and the OEE Records export.
How does Bulk calculate OEE?
From recorded time. Each machine’s score is its running time divided by running time plus downtime for the window you are viewing, and time with neither a timer nor a stop is inactive and left out. Downtime is then split by the loss category of each reason. It is a recorded-time measure, not a product of separately measured availability, performance and quality rates.
Do operators have to enter extra data for OEE?
One choice. When they pause the timer they pick a reason from Select Pause Reason, with their recent reasons at the top, and reasons set to require a comment also ask for a short note. There is no separate OEE form.
How do I record downtime when no job is running?
Use Set downtime reason in the Home screen’s Downtime widget. With work loaded it pauses against that work; with nothing loaded it records a stop against the machine itself, which needs permission to enter timer time manually.
Can we use our own downtime reason codes?
Yes. Each site keeps its own ordered list: a code of up to 20 characters, a name, an OEE category, an optional loss type, an icon and colour, and whether a comment is required. Import Presets adds the generic set and an industry pack, skipping codes you already have.
Can a wrongly logged stop be corrected?
Yes, on the OEE Timeline within 48 hours. Change the reason and its category follows, drag a segment’s edges to the right minute, or fill a freed gap with downtime. The changes edit the source records, so every score, Pareto and report agrees. Older records are read-only.
Does Bulk connect to machine sensors?
Sensors can be registered against an asset and send readings through the Bulk API. Where one is attached, the OEE Timeline draws a sensor lane under that machine so you can compare what it saw with what was booked. Downtime reasons still come from the people at the station.
How current are the OEE figures?
The asset board updates within seconds of a start, pause or stop. The timeline and reports read an analytics copy of the records that can trail the floor slightly; when it falls behind, the timeline shows a banner with a retry until it catches up.
Can OEE reports be emailed automatically?
Yes. Schedule the OEE Asset Report, the OEE User Report or any other report for chosen days and a time in your timezone. Bulk renders a PDF and emails each recipient a download link valid for 30 days, and the History tab keeps every run.
Can I export downtime data to Excel?
Yes. The OEE Records export gives one row per closed downtime event, with its reason, category, duration and the jobs and customers it touched, as CSV, XLSX or JSON. Save it as a template to run again or on a daily, weekly or monthly schedule.
Can I compare OEE across plants?
Each site keeps its own reasons, dashboards and KPIs. Atlas, currently in beta, lays sites side by side with OEE as a column and drills into the downtime behind a cell.
Where can I check an OEE calculation or record losses by hand?
Use the OEE calculator for the conventional availability × performance × quality calculation, or record a shift on the OEE tracking sheet and each stop on the machine downtime log. The calculator is separate from Bulk’s recorded-time score described above. A Pareto chart helps rank the losses; the preventive maintenance schedule and TPM checklist help plan and record follow-up. See the OEE Timeline guide for reviewing recorded events in Bulk.
Stop guessing where the time goes.
Start a free trial, run one shift on one of your machines and follow it from the pause to the reason, the timeline and the Pareto. No card needed.
