Maintenance Matters Focus on: Condition Monitoring 14 | Plant & Works Engineering www.pwemag.co.uk June/July 2025 Could your business withstand losses of £2M per hour? This eyewatering figure comes from research into the true cost of manufacturing downtime by IDS-INDATA. It is suggested as potentially the average cost of a single production downtime incident for UK automotive manufacturers in 2025. Furthermore, the researchers suggest that, across the automotive manufacturing sector, there could be as many as 20-25 downtime episodes a month, each lasting around 3-4 hours. Automotive manufacturing isn’t the only industry likely to suffer production outages. Based on the data analysis, food processing plants could have multiple minor stoppages every week, adding up to around 442 hours of downtime over the year and costing companies up to £25,000 each time. In the last three years, the report advises that more than 80% of industrial businesses in the UK and Europe experienced unplanned downtime. Each incident lasted around four hours. Any production downtime won’t just impact on the bottom line; there are the associated costs that companies will incur as a result, including emergency engineers’ call-out, repairs, spare parts, and possibly even overtime to get the line up and running again. Plus, of course, there are intangible costs, including the reputational damage that a company will inevitably suffer if it fails to fulfil customer orders. Software and systems failures are cited as one of the leading causes of production downtime, which is no surprise; factories can be hostile places for IT circuits. Dust is a constant irritant that can never be fully removed. Even the ‘cleanest’ industrial spaces will have a base level of particles within the air that will be drawn into equipment enclosures if cooling fans are employed. This dust can get into both wire connections and internal component fans, either blocking and shorting wiring connections or preventing thermal exchange. Even where an environment is kept hygienically clean, such as in the food and beverage industry, raw ingredients (including sugars and yeast) can still enter enclosures and damage the expensive machinery contained inside. Electrical equipment is also very sensitive to temperature fluctuations, typically working best within closely defined parameters. Maintaining a stable temperature is vital to ensure that all the electrical components work to their full potential and that the production equipment they control can operate at high speed. The faster a palletwrapping machine works, for example, the more goods can be shipped. Unfortunately, not only do electrical circuits generate considerable levels of (waste) heat, the impact of this heat can be exacerbated by the ambient heat of its local environment. Without adequate cooling, temperatures within an enclosure can quickly exceed the maximum levels required by the equipment. Each of these factors, whether solus or combined, represents a major risk to facilities that are under pressure to keep their production lines moving to avoid some of the financial losses we’ve highlighted. Why invest in regular electrical maintenance? The only way to manage optimum performance and ensure the longevity of your electrical systems is through a regular programme of professional service and maintenance. Some of the benefits of regular maintenance include: Improved Efficiency: it keeps systems running at peak performance, enhancing productivity The importance of regular maintenance in minimising critical equipment failure UK manufacturers are facing significant costs from unplanned equipment failures, with incidents in the automotive sector potentially reaching £2 million per hour, according to IDS-INDATA. Regular maintenance and strategic planning are crucial for minimising disruptions, maintaining efficiency, and controlling costs across various industries, including food processing and heavy machinery. PWE reports.
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