Unplanned downtime in manufacturing is one of the primary scenarios that most facilities strive to avoid. The reason for this is simple: Production downtime, especially when unexpected, equates to lost money for the business. If a machine is not operating, it is not generating revenue—and could be creating additional downtime costs in repairs, replacement parts, and labor or resources.
For all of these reasons, unplanned downtime in manufacturing is anathema to the objective of a plant operating at maximum efficiency. Uptime is a key metric in overall equipment effectiveness (OEE) and productivity and could provide accurate insight into the success of a facility. In the rest of this article, we will examine causes of downtime in manufacturing, types of machine downtime and tips for avoiding manufacturing downtime.
Causes of downtime in manufacturing
Some of the most common causes of unplanned machine and factory downtime include:
- Inadequate preventive maintenance: Without timely preventive maintenance, components may wear out, equipment might not be cleaned, and important tasks such as oil or filter changes may not occur on schedule—all of which could lead to downtime when these mechanisms fail.
- Insufficient training: If maintenance personnel are not fully trained or if an operator does not know how to run equipment effectively, the machinery is likely to experience failure or operate outside of spec, leading to downtime. Some of the causes of this include knowledge gaps due to retirements and inconsistent or poorly defined standardized procedures.
- Undetected equipment malfunction: Even with proper maintenance, equipment malfunctions may still occur, including overheating and increased vibration that may not be detected until it is too late.
- Lack of trained or certified operators on staff or on shift: The technical skills gap in manufacturing means that in some cases, a machine operator may not be available. While not attributable to an equipment malfunction, this is still considered unplanned downtime.
- Aging equipment and deferred capital investment: The older equipment is, the more likely it will break down and cause unplanned downtime.
- Poor root cause analysis following prior failures: Without a clear understanding of how previous equipment failures occurred and how to prevent them, manufacturers are likely to see the same failures repeat.
- Inaccurate asset data or incomplete maintenance records: When records are poorly kept or maintained, technicians lack the data needed to prevent downtime events.
- Cybersecurity or software system failures: Automated facilities need to look out for software issues such as outdated cybersecurity protection that leaves them vulnerable to attacks or bugs that can impact uptime.
- Utility disruptions: Electricity, water and compressed air interruptions can disrupt manufacturing environments and production.
- Poor lubrication management: In many cases, downtime can be traced back to a simple neglect of regular lubrication, which wears down components.
Types of machine downtime
The causes listed above can lead to various types of downtime, including:
- Mechanical Downtime
- Component failure
- Bearing failure
- Motor burnout
- Hydraulic/pneumatic leaks
- Operational Downtime
- Operator absence
- Setup delays
- Changeover errors
- Supply Chain Downtime
- Missing parts
- Late shipments
- Vendor shortages
- Systemic Downtime
- IT/automation failures
- Utility failures
- ERP/CMMS system outages
Understanding which category a downtime event falls under is crucial for planning any corrective actions and responding as promptly as possible.
Tips to keep your plant running during unplanned downtime
Even with a deeper understanding of the causes and types of unplanned equipment downtime, it is still likely to occur at some point. When these scenarios happen, the best thing that you can do is be prepared with a plan to address it. Here are some tips to maintain some level of operation when experiencing unexpected downtime:
Part 1: Responding to unplanned downtime
- Have the right personnel on hand: When unplanned downtime occurs, a primary goal should be to get the equipment running as quickly as possible. This requires maintenance staff with training and expertise on that particular piece of machinery, as well as the presenting problem. Without the right technicians on hand, you may need to wait for someone to arrive or enlist emergency, external expertise. Your maintenance plan should include elements such as on-call response plans, cross-training programs and escalation protocols.
- Review and optimize inventory and MRO management: One of the biggest factors in delayed repairs—and extended downtime—is difficulty locating the right replacement components. This might be because inventory counts are inaccurate, the part is not where it belongs, or spares were not reordered with sufficient lead time. Inability to locate the right tools could lead to extra time tracking down the part or additional costs for rush orders. Make sure you identify critical spare parts and use ABC inventory classifications. Working closely with vendors for inventory management also can provide benefits.
- Shore up your supply chain: Supply chain difficulties might also create inventory disruptions, and in worst-case scenarios, could align with unplanned downtime. In order to combat this potential problem, it is important to have a diversified supply chain and access to multiple suppliers in order to keep the right parts on hand when you need them. It’s also a good idea to forge long-term supplier agreements whenever possible to ensure continuity and perform risk-mapping for single-source components.
- Develop contingency production plans: Be sure you have a plan in place to shift production to alternate lines in the event of unplanned downtime.
- Implement temporary redundancy systems: Being ready for downtime also means having redundancy built into your processes whenever needed. This will provide you with relief whenever production comes to a halt for any reason.
- Communicate downtime transparently across departments: Limited visibility into downtime can create confusion and slow response efforts. Clear, timely communication supports cross-functional coordination and more effective problem-solving.
- Conduct immediate root cause documentation before restarting: Capturing failure details before operations resume helps preserve critical information needed for accurate analysis and corrective action.
Part 2: Preventing future unplanned downtime
- Instill maintenance training as part of organizational culture: A culture of maintenance means that all employees are up-to-date with the skills needed to spring into action as soon as repairs or contingency plans are required.
- Get ahead of problems as early as possible: Of course, the best remedy for downtime is to prevent it from happening—or to schedule it for convenient times. Predictive maintenance and preventive maintenance play a major factor in identifying problems early and reducing unexpected downtime.
- Implement predictive maintenance: Industry 4.0 condition monitoring sensors provide data that maintenance teams can use to predict which assets are likely to fail in the near future and resolve the issues before they cause failures. This leads to reduced emergency repairs and improved mean time between failures.
- Standardize preventive maintenance schedules: Preventive maintenance tasks need to follow a schedule to ensure worn components are replaced and machines are lubricated on time.
- Improve asset criticality ranking: Teams need a clear idea of which assets should receive the most attention based on how much they impact production.
- Leverage CMMS for real–time visibility: CMMS platforms deliver critical information about machine health that proves invaluable for preventing unscheduled downtime.
- Adopt condition monitoring sensors: Devices that measure vibration, temperature and other conditions serve as the foundation of modern predictive and preventive maintenance philosophies.
- Use data analytics to detect early failure trends: Analytical platforms use machine learning algorithms to detect patterns in failures and suggest potential causes.
- Conduct regular reliability audits: Checking up on the overall reliability of your assets is critical for continuous improvement efforts.
- Apply PFMEA to critical assets: Process Failure Mode and Effects Analysis is a process for identifying and mitigating potential failures.
Prevent unplanned downtime with ATS
At ATS, we offer extensive expertise in industrial maintenance and MRO asset management, with a focus on reliability and keeping your facility operating at peak performance. Our plant maintenance services include skilled technicians providing on-site preventive and predictive maintenance for improved asset health with scalability for multi-site operations. For more information, contact ATS today.
