How To Reduce Downtime: The Complete Guide

What Is Downtime?

Downtime is any amount of time where assets, machines, or even complete production lines aren’t running. During downtime, no goods are produced, some or all production has stopped, and the facility is not generating revenue. A facility experiencing downtime is using its resources inefficiently and is often incurring costs (labor, utilities, overhead) without corresponding output.

Why Does Reducing Downtime Matter?

Reducing downtime is critical because every minute of downtime can be incredibly costly for manufacturers. Besides direct costs like increased labor and lower production, downtime can have indirect costs as well. If production stops, orders are left unfilled. Downtime can result in lost customer trust if products are delayed. This can ultimately damage the company’s reputation and have a long-term impact on revenue even after production resumes as normal.

Unplanned Downtime vs Planned Downtime

Some amount of downtime is inevitable. Assets will need to be maintained, cleaned, or replaced, and they can’t be used during that time. However, there are key differences between unplanned and planned downtime. And, with the right maintenance strategy and a robust CMMS, organizations can reduce both downtime varieties.

Planned Downtime

Planned downtime is any scheduled time when machines aren’t operational. This time is planned for scheduled maintenance, like routine inspections and other service tasks. Planned downtime can also include time the facility isn’t operational, such as during shift changes, or on weekends or holidays.

Planned downtime doesn’t usually have the same productivity costs as unplanned downtime since it is scheduled in advance. When maintenance is scheduled in advance, organizations can verify they have the correct parts on hand and the right technicians available. With these pieces in place, the maintenance task can be performed quickly, and the asset can be put back into operation sooner.

Unplanned Downtime

Unplanned downtime is any amount of time when machines are supposed to be operating but are not. It happens when an asset fails unexpectedly and can no longer be operated safely or effectively. Unplanned downtime is incredibly costly; in some industries, it can cost thousands of dollars per minute.

Common Causes of Downtime

Downtime can have both an initial cause and continuing causes that unnecessarily prolong it. For example, an initial cause of downtime may be a machine component malfunction, while the downtime might be extended because the replacement part isn’t immediately available. Here are the most common causes of downtime:

1. Equipment Failure: This is the single biggest driver of unplanned downtime. Worn bearings, misalignment, overheating motors, lubrication issues, failing belts, and electrical faults are all reasons equipment can fail unexpectedly.
2. Inadequate Maintenance Strategy: When organizations rely on a reactive maintenance strategy, downtime failures happen more frequently. Even worse, failures can cascade and become larger problems, causing even more downtime as teams scramble to make repairs.
3. Supply Chain and Spare Parts Issues: When failure does happen, having the right parts on hand is a critical way to reduce downtime. But if parts are in demand and hard to find, downtime can drag on until the correct replacement part arrives.
4. Operator Errors: The skilled labor shortage plaguing many industries has resulted in fewer qualified workers to operate and maintain machines. Operator errors can lead to equipment damage, unplanned stops, and costly unplanned downtime.

While these issues are common across the manufacturing industry, they’re not inevitable. With the right processes and tools in place, organizations can significantly reduce downtime and the frequency of these problems.

Strategies To Reduce Downtime

Here are a few key strategies organizations can use to reduce downtime and strengthen reliability across their factory floor:

1. Collect the Right Data: Knowing the best way for your organization to improve starts with having the right data and being able to access it easily. Collecting data and KPI reports gives performance insights that can guide decision making.
2. Use Preventive Maintenance: Strengthening your preventive maintenance strategy keeps your assets running better and for longer. Ensure that PMs are completed on the appropriate schedule and are thoroughly documented.
3. Implement Predictive Maintenance: Predictive maintenance lets teams see failures coming by gathering machine data from sensors. This information provides early warning signs of potential problems, giving teams time to perform maintenance before asset failure occurs, reducing downtime.
4. Optimize Spare Parts Management: Optimizing critical spare parts helps make sure the right parts are always on hand and easy to find. With the right parts on hand, teams can shorten the repair process and eliminate downtime spent waiting for spare parts to arrive.

Using a CMMS To Minimize Downtime

A computerized maintenance management system (CMMS) is one of the most effective tools available to minimize downtime and keep it low. By moving from reactive maintenance to a proactive, data-driven approach, a good CMMS helps teams spot potential issues early. This lets teams schedule the right type of maintenance at the right time and ensures critical tasks don’t slip through the cracks.

A CMMS gives you visibility that spreadsheets and paper logs simply can’t match. It harnesses the power of features like automated work orders, preventive and predictive maintenance scheduling, real-time asset health monitoring, parts inventory tracking, and detailed reporting. The result? Fewer surprise failures, shorter repair times when issues do occur, and significantly higher uptime across the plant floor.

Schedule a personalized demo of eMaint today and find out how much more reliable your operation can be.