An innovative approach for evaluating the efficiency of Overall Equipment Effectiveness through Network DEA

This study, based on a real industrial case, demonstrates that applying Network Data Envelopment Analysis (NDEA) to Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE) uncovers stage-specific bottlenecks, and reveals efficiency patterns that traditional OEE overlooks, for example, identifying units misclassified as inefficient. The implications of the proposed NDEA-OEE approach extend far beyond the company analyzed. Since OEE is one of the most widely adopted performance indicators across industries such as automotive, electronics, steel, and pharmaceuticals, any methodological advance in its measurement carries broad industrial relevance. By capturing the multi-stage nature of production systems, NDEA-OEE prevents misinterpretation of efficiency levels, avoids misguided investments in maintenance or equipment replacement, and enables more accurate benchmarking across plants and sectors. The case study results highlight the model’s ability to distinguish stage-specific technical efficiency from overall resource allocation efficiency, offering insights unattainable through OEE alone. In the context of Industry 4.0 and digitalized production, this approach can be scaled across diverse industrial settings, supporting decision-makers in achieving cost reduction, productivity gains, and sustainable competitiveness at an industry-wide level.