When machines break down unexpectedly, companies suffer massive financial losses. However, many manufacturers are unaware of the real price they pay for downtimes. In this blog, we will illustrate how high the costs of machine downtimes are and how you can avoid expensive stoppages in production.
Maschine operators experience planned and unplanned downtimes. Both generate high costs. However, regular downtimes during which machines and systems are serviced can be scheduled in a budget-friendly manner. This is not the case with unexpected downtimes: During these periods, machines and systems break down without warning, resulting in a loss of production and revenue. Unplanned downtimes can be caused by various factors:
Manufacturing companies should therefore actively get to the bottom of the causes of their machine downtimes. After all, downtimes not only threaten turnover: Companies have to invest time and money in machine restoration and are therefore less productive.
Planned and unplanned downtimes can cost companies up to ten percent of their available production time. This time, as well as the money that manufacturers have to invest in troubleshooting is irretrievably lost.
But do you know what one hour of downtime costs your machines? If not, you're now on the right track: according to the International Society of Automation (ISA), 80 percent of companies are facing the same issue.
What production managers often fail to consider is that, in addition to the direct costs, i.e. the loss of sales, downtime costs also include a number of hidden costs. The following indirect costs are the reason why machine downtimes are so financially painful:
The predictive maintenance specialist Senseye, which now belongs to Siemens, has calculated the concrete costs of machine downtimes:
The costs of machine downtimes are increasing — especially in times when companies are facing crises and difficult financial markets that are making them cut costs. It is therefore not just the big players that should do their best to keep their machines running: Higher plant availability is beneficial for all industries.
These are the costs incurred by defective machines and systems in various industries:
Incidentally, downtimes are also costly in IT-based industries. Figures from 2016 show that downtimes in data centers cost an average of 8,300 euros per minute.
When you are fighting to avoid downtimes, knowledge is your most powerful weapon. The first step is to become aware of the consequences and costs of machine downtimes and to understand that downtimes are expensive and that investment in essential maintenance is required.
Next, the causes of downtimes must be identified and avoided by means of routine maintenance. According to Senseye, for example, 72 percent of industrial companies want to reduce their downtimes by means of predictive maintenance.
Instead of repairing when necessary, preventive maintenance means that maintenance work takes place regularly and is planned in advance. To achieve this, it is important to provide service technicians with all of the relevant machine and spare parts information so that they can efficiently troubleshoot downtimes.
By means of the analysis of system failures and optimization potential or the elimination of machine defects, software solutions provide manufacturers and machine operators with the necessary transparency about machines and processes.
The digital twin plays an important role here. It maps the machine and system status over the entire life cycle and combines it with information on completed and planned maintenance processes, technical documentation, and information about spare parts.
Digital twins such as the Digital Information Twin (DIT) from Quanos are a prerequisite for efficient service operations. As a central knowledge platform, it not only provides important information for maintenance tasks but also offers intuitive step-by-step instructions on how to troubleshoot defects more quickly.
Because all the necessary information is connected, digitized, and available in real time, technicians can access it via mobile devices such as smartphones or tablets and efficiently complete repairs. Service staff are relieved of these tasks and can get back to other tasks more quickly.
Discover the most effective tool against machine downtimes Quanos InfoTwin!
Companies that are familiar with the costs of downtimes know that investing in solutions is worthwhile if they can avoid even a few expensive minutes of downtime. According to BearingPoint, strategies such as predictive maintenance allow companies to increase turnover by 10 percent and save 17 percent on maintenance and service costs.
It is true that unplanned downtimes cannot be completely avoided. But with the right software solution, you can significantly increase the availability of your systems. This will protect your company from production downtimes and save you the direct and indirect costs of machine breakdowns.
With the all-in-one solution InfoTwin from Quanos, you give your service technicians the tools they need to rectify faults more quickly. This includes easy-to-understand instructions, clear documentation, and the ability to quickly identify and order spare parts.
