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Machine downtime is one of the most common and expensive problems in industrial or manufacturing facilities. According to a Forbes report<\/a>, companies experience 800 hours of downtime per year, or more than 15 hours a week.<\/p>\n That has a huge impact on revenue. For example, an automotive manufacturer loses about $22,000 for every minute of lost production time. A cement manufacturer<\/a> loses $12,000 an hour. This doesn\u2019t include the indirect<\/em> costs incurred:<\/p>\n Machine downtime can also lead to lost sales opportunities and tighter profit margins. According to the report After the Fall: Cost and Consequences of Unplanned Downtime:<\/a> <\/em>\u201cThe reverberation is felt across businesses as a whole.\u201d<\/p>\n There are two kinds of machine downtime: planned downtime<\/strong> or the expected time required for routine cleaning and maintenance, and unplanned downtime<\/strong> caused by equipment failure, operator error, and poor material flow.<\/p>\n Equipment failure and operator error are relatively rare and can be avoided through regular inspection and proper training. However, poor material flow can happen every day.<\/p>\n Many bulk powders and solids are prone to bridging and ratholing, which obstructs vessel outlets until the flow slows down or stops completely. The machines must be shut down so workers can clear out the material blocks or scrape away residue on the walls.<\/p>\n This was exactly what happened in the Mexico plant of a regional manufacturer of asphalt products<\/a>. \u201cOver the weekend, when the plant was unstaffed, the asphalt materials would settle completely. When workers returned on Monday, they had to climb seven meters down into the dark silo, and clear thick layers of compacted material just to get the factory running again,\u201d said the Sales Manager.<\/p>\n\n
Causes of Machine Downtime<\/h2>\n