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How to Reduce Machine Downtime: Strategies for Manufacturers

If you often need to replace your machines or get hit with equipment failure, you are likely facing unplanned downtime. As a manufacturer, dealing with unplanned downtime and equipment failures can create major operational obstacles.

• Production halts can deplete your inventory and without backup machines, catching up can take days or even months.
• One of the most visible impacts is lost production capacity. For instance, if your unit produces 300 units per hour at a $40 profit per unit, one hour of downtime costs over $11,000 in lost revenue.
• A malfunction in one part of your plant increases stress on other parts, causing further problems and added load.

But what if you could turn this around? Downtime doesn't have to be such a headache. With the right strategies, you can reduce downtime and schedule planned maintenance during convenient slots. 

In this article, we'll provide a comprehensive overview of machine downtime and offer practical strategies to reduce it. By following these steps, you can keep your production lines running smoothly without equipment failures.

What is Machine Downtime?

Machine downtime happens when a machine stops working and can't be used for production. If you are a manufacturer, handling downtime is crucial to maintain productivity and profitability. There are two main types of downtime:

Planned Downtime

Planned downtime includes any scheduled stoppage of the manufacturing process. While it temporarily halts production, planned downtime is essential for long-term reliability. For example, scheduled maintenance during off-peak hours can prevent unexpected downtime and improve your Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE). 

Some examples of a planned downtime event are:

• Regular maintenance
• Upgrading equipment
• Production line changes
• Shift and product changeovers

Unplanned Downtime

Unplanned downtime occurs without warning due to equipment failures, human errors, or unforeseen external factors. This is a costly downtime, creating production delays, increased labor costs, and urgent maintenance expenses for you. 

Unplanned downtime commonly occurs as a result of:

• Equipment failure
• Material shortages
• Human errors

To reduce unplanned downtime, you can adopt a data-driven approach. For instance, using sensors and monitoring systems can help detect potential issues before they lead to significant problems.

Causes of Machine Downtime

Statistics reveal that the cost of downtime in the manufacturing industry is estimated to be almost $50 billion annually. Therefore, understanding the causes is crucial if you want to work toward reducing downtime. 

Here are some common reasons why you might be facing unplanned machine downtime:

• Mismanaged Supply Chain: If you are running out of inventory, spare parts, or resources like fuel, this can stop the production process, leading to unexpected downtime events.
• Lack of Planning: When your maintenance team lacks data on maintenance needs, it can lead to unplanned downtime and lost production time.
• Equipment Malfunctions: Machinery malfunctions are a significant cause of downtime. If your heavy equipment often faces high stress, it can result in overheating, wear and tear, and overall downtime.
• Untrained Workforce: Untrained employees are more likely to make mistakes that can result in equipment failure. Therefore, proper training is important to confirm that your operators know how to use and maintain machinery correctly, reducing the risk of accidental damage.
• Power Outages: Frequent power supply issues can disrupt your production line, especially for equipment that relies on electricity or requires software and internet connectivity.

How to Calculate Machine Downtime

To reduce unplanned downtime, you first need to understand its extent. This will help you identify which equipment is most prone to failure and critical to your manufacturing operations. 

Here are some steps to track downtime:

• Identify Planned Operating Time: Determine the total operating time for a set period. For example, if production runs 8 hours a day for 20 days a month, that's 160 hours per month.
• Tracking Downtime: Track the actual downtime during this period by using current data or consulting previous reports if available.
• Calculate Actual Operating Time: Subtract the recorded downtime from the planned operating time. This gives you the actual operating time.
• Convert to Percentage Downtime is often expressed as a percentage. Use the formula:
  Unplanned Downtime = (Time Asset is Down / Planned Operating Time) x 100
  This can be applied to individual machines, shifts, departments, or the entire facility.

How to Reduce Machine Downtime

Once you have carried out a downtime analysis, you can start working toward minimizing it. Reducing downtime is crucial if you want to maintain profitability and consistency in your processes. 

Here are some strategies to help you achieve this goal:

Perform a Risk Audit

A risk audit identifies potential issues with your equipment which is a critical marker for reducing downtime. For example, an old machine in your manufacturing plant that's 17 years old is at high risk for failure and may be difficult to find spare parts for. 

By auditing your equipment, you can get a better idea about which machines are obsolete and should be replaced at higher priority. Regular audits also help you confirm that your manufacturing equipment meets safety standards, protecting your team and preventing costly disasters. 

Here are some tips for a successful risk audit:

• Identify machinery that is nearing the end of its lifecycle.
• Make sure the spare parts and support are available. If they are not, this is hinting toward the obseleteness of the equipment.
• Determine if old equipment poses any safety hazards.

Implement Real-Time Monitoring

Use real-time monitoring systems with sensors and data analytics to track equipment performance and reduce downtime. Most of these systems can send alerts to mobile devices and display dashboards in production areas, providing transparency and facilitating immediate intervention. 

For example, if a machine's temperature exceeds a certain threshold, an alert can prompt a technician to address the issue before it leads to unplanned downtime events. This can help you identify patterns, and predict equipment failures.

Create a Preventive Maintenance Schedule

Preventive maintenance involves regular checks and servicing of equipment to prevent unexpected breakdowns. It is a good idea to schedule your plant's maintenance during planned downtime for part replacement and make sure that proper personnel are available during that time. 

This proactive approach will help you catch issues early, order spare parts in advance, and avoid any overtime costs. Here are some key components of preventative maintenance that you should keep in mind:

• Scheduled inspections
• Part replacements during planned downtime
• Routine maintenance schedules during normal operations

Create a Preventive Maintenance Schedule

Preventive maintenance involves regular checks and servicing of equipment to prevent unexpected breakdowns. Scheduling maintenance during planned downtime allows you to replace parts and ensure that the right personnel are available. This proactive approach helps catch issues early, order spare parts in advance, and avoid overtime costs.

Key Components of Preventive Maintenance:

• Scheduled Inspections: Regularly check equipment to identify potential issues before they become major problems.
• Part Replacements During Planned Downtime: Replace worn-out parts during scheduled maintenance to prevent unexpected failures.
• Routine Maintenance During Operations: Perform routine tasks like lubrication and cleaning while equipment is in use to extend its lifespan.

Makula’s inventory management feature tracks spare parts and inventory levels, sending alerts when stock is low. This system prevents maintenance delays, maintains accurate stock levels, and helps reduce downtime keeping your operations running.

Develop Disaster Recovery Plans

You can prepare for unexpected downtime by having disaster recovery plans in place. These plans should include backup power solutions, data backup and recovery procedures, alternative production sites, and communication protocols. 

Being prepared helps minimize the impact of natural disasters, power outages, or cyberattacks, helping your business quickly resume normal operations.

Invest in Training and Skill Development

Well-trained personnel are very important for reducing downtime. This is because skilled staff and operators can detect issues early on, and trigger predictive maintenance processes if need be. Some of the beneficial training strategies you can implement are:

• Regular Workshops: Keep employees updated on best practices and invest in comprehensive training programs for both operators and maintenance staff.
• Cross-Training: Ensure multiple staff members can perform critical tasks so that continuity is ensured even when someone is unavailable.
• On-the-Job Training: Provide hands-on experience with equipment helping them get familiar with common issues, and standard operation processes.

Automate Your Processes

One of the ways to reduce downtime is to invest in technology that refines your operations with minimum manual intervention required. A CMMS (Computerized Maintenance Management System) software can automate work order management, making it easier for you to coordinate maintenance activities, assign tasks, and track progress in real time. 

Automation is very useful as it reduces errors, delays, and miscommunications so your maintenance processes are smooth and all stakeholders are informed.

With a CMMS software, automation can be a breeze. Here’s how:

How Makula’s CMMS can help reduce machine downtime

Work Order Management

With Makula, you can easily manage every stage of work orders, from creation to completion. When maintenance is needed, all you have to do is create a service request by selecting the facility and machine, specifying the reporter, and detailing the required work. The work order is then prioritized and added to the top of the list, ready for timely execution.

Furthermore, Makula's tools, including calendars, maps, and Kanban boards, allow you to control maintenance schedules, track progress, and coordinate tasks across stakeholders. 

This systematic approach helps reduce machine downtime, ensuring your equipment is serviced promptly, tasks are coordinated and any possibility of an unexpected disruption is minimized.

Automated Preventive Maintenance

Makula automates and tracks maintenance schedules to extend equipment lifespan and minimize unexpected downtime. By monitoring assets through intervals or meter data thresholds, the software triggers maintenance events at the right time, reducing expenses. 

For instance, meter-based preventive maintenance uses integrated machine meters and telemetrics data to automatically trigger work orders. Customized reports track tasks, uncover failure patterns and identify root causes.

Preventive maintenance events can be created for machines assigned to a customer or production line. This verifies that the maintenance is proactive and consistent, keeping your equipment in optimal condition and significantly reducing downtime. 

Data-driven maintenance decisions

Makula supports preventive maintenance reporting which generates customized reports to measure, track, and improve your maintenance activities. This feature helps uncover failure patterns and main causes, so you can develop data-driven strategies for optimal equipment performance. 

For example, you can track assets, analyze downtime incidents and their causes, and refine your maintenance approach to reduce downtime further.

With this feature, you can also customize reports to match your maintenance KPIs. You get real-time data in your preferred formats, such as graphs or charts.

Case Study: How Makula Reduced Downtime for Turmec

Turmec, a leader in advanced waste management systems, faced inefficiencies and frequent errors in their after-sales sector due to outdated manual processes. Partnering with Makula in June 2023, their goal was to achieve improved operations and reduce downtime.

Initial Challenges

Some of the challenges that stimulated Turmec to look for a solution were:

• Manual Processes: Outdated methods led to frequent errors in parts dispatch.
• Operational Disruptions: Incorrect parts and delayed responses caused significant downtime.
• Costly Errors: Mistakes, especially with international shipping, resulted in high costs for Turmec to bear.

Solution with Makula

Here is how Turmec benefitted from Makula’s digital system: 

• Reduced Downtime: With real-time monitoring and automated alerts generated by Makula, Turmec can now address issues before they escalate, significantly reducing machine downtime. This proactive approach has kept production lines running smoothly and minimized unexpected disruptions.
• Improved Efficiency: Automation of routine tasks and well-defined workflows have led to faster turnaround times. By eliminating manual errors and reducing the time spent on administrative tasks, Turmec's team is able to focus more on strategic activities, like meeting their production targets.
• Increased Profitability: Turmec's clean monthly sales have increased by $20,000 to $30,000, as a result of more accurate parts dispatch and after-sales services.
• Customer Satisfaction: Customers now enjoy a more professional and organized service. The structured system has improved communication and made after-sales support more reliable. Clients appreciate the ease of accessing services and reports, along with the ability to manage their needs better.
• Scalability and Growth: With Makula, Turmec is better positioned to scale its operations. The system's flexibility allows for improved onboarding of new plants and customers, facilitating Turmec's expansion into new markets, including their targeted entry into the American market.

Future Plans

Turmec has ambitious plans to further fine-tune its operations with Makula. The team envisions a future where clients can go online, scan machines, and place orders with 3D visualization. To facilitate this, Turmec is investing in video tutorials that illustrate the process from scanning a QR code to delivery, so the new system is easily implemented by all customers. 

Key Takeaways

• Machine downtime can deplete inventory and significantly impact production capacity, leading to high costs.
• Preventive maintenance and real-time monitoring are essential strategies for reducing unexpected equipment failures.
• Proper planning, regular audits, and comprehensive training can help minimize unplanned downtime.
• Utilizing tools like Makula’s CMMS can automate maintenance processes, manage inventory, and improve operational efficiency.

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