ħĦĦĦ Ɵ ĨĮ ĦĦĶ īīĦĶ Ǒ Ǒ Ɵ Ĩ Ǒ Ǒ ƨ ĨĦĨĬ Ǒ Ǡ īīĦ ǒ ǚ ǒ ǒ Ɵ Ǒ Ǒ Ǖ Ǒ Ǖ ǎ Ǒ Ǖ ƨ Ǖ Ǒ ǒ Ǖ ǒ ǒ LjǏ ǒ Ǖ Ǖ ǒ Ǒ Ǒ ǚ ǒ ǒ ƨ ĶĪĪ ƮĦƯĨĦ ĩħįĬ ĪĪħĪ ƠǕ COUNTING THE COST OF DOWNTIME A new survey has revealed substantial differences in the levels and costs of downtime experienced by manufacturers in different countries. The study, conducted by Censuswide for Fluke, quizzed more than 600 senior decisionmakers and maintenance personnel in the UK, US and Germany. It found that globally, 48% reported they typically experience 6–10 downtime incidents every week, with 19% being hit by as many as 11–20. Almost half of those quizzed (45%) said that these outages last up to 12 hours, while 15% reported breakdowns of up to 72 hours. Downtime is a particular problem for larger organisations (those with more than 50,000 employees). Some 40% of them report experiencing an average of 11-20 downtime incidents every week, with half saying these incidents last up to 72 hours. UK manufacturers are more likely to report experiencing downtime (68%), than those in Germany (60%) or the US (55%). The UK incidents also last longer, with 45% saying their plants are typically out of action for up to 12 hours, and 17% having to endure shutdowns of up to 72 hours. At an average cost of £1.36m per hour, a single incident in either the UK and Germany can result in losses of up to £49m, or £736m a week. In the US, the incidents average 11 hours and cost much less – up to $207m (£157m) per week. Fluke suggests that UK manufacturers face barriers such as outdated assets and data that is stuck in silos, making it difficult for them to move beyond reactive maintenance. The top challenge cited by UK manufacturers is insufficient data or technology (52%), followed by cybersecurity, and their limited use of digital tools. Fluke reports that, despite the scale of the problem, industry’s response is fragmented. UK manufacturers are spreading their digital investments across multiple technologies aimed at delivering resilience, including predictive maintenance (12%), digital twins (12%) and condition monitoring (13%). “Our research paints a sobering picture: manufacturers are caught in a cycle where downtime eats directly into competitiveness, and too many are stuck with fragmented fixes,” comments Parker Burke, president of Fluke’s Connected Reliability group. “The data makes clear that the frequency, duration, and cost of downtime expose vulnerabilities in maintenance and reliability strategies. “What once was viewed as an operational inconvenience has become a risk to enterprise value,” he adds. “Without a clear path to scale digital investments, manufacturers' efforts risk being spread too thin to deliver meaningful resilience or return. The findings underscore the urgent need for manufacturers to rethink reliability not as a maintenance issue, but as a boardroom priority critical to growth, competitiveness and customer trust.” The downtime figures from Fluke’s survey certainly look worrying, but a lot of them are “up to”, so hopefully most UK manufacturers are not experiencing such dramatic problems. If they were, they probably wouldn’t still be in business. Tony Sacks, Editor n COMMENT
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MjQ0NzM=