Reducing the Consequences of Unplanned Equipment Downtime in Manufacturing Facilities

Manufacturing organizations are known for having several pieces of equipment spread throughout their different facilities. These pieces of equipment are instrumental in ensuring a smooth production process, meeting organizational goals, and improving profits. However, one of the biggest impediments to the production process is unplanned downtime in manufacturing facilities. Unplanned downtime is mostly caused by equipment failure and similar issues, leading to bottlenecks, workplace injuries, reduction in profits, and more. Fortunately, unplanned machine downtime can be prevented with a robust CMMS software solution.

That being said, let’s take a quick look at what machine downtime actually is, some of the common consequences, and how they can be minimized with CloudApper CMMS. 

Machine downtime in manufacturing facilities

It’s quite simple – machine downtime is the period when the equipment is not operational, i.e., offline, for any reason. One of the reasons is that it is actually planned – this is quite common with preventive maintenance planning. Another very common reason is unexpected machine breakdowns, malfunctions, premature death, etc. – this usually occurs when the affected machinery doesn’t receive proper maintenance.

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With that out of the way, let’s take a look at some of the common consequences of unplanned machine downtime. 

Consequences of unplanned machine downtime in manufacturing facilities 

Production disruptions

Unsurprisingly, the first and foremost consequence of unplanned equipment downtime is that it causes halts production. It’s quite simple – a semifinished product was about to get the finishing touches, but the conveyor belt unexpectedly malfunctioned. As a result, the semifinished product, and all the others after it, will not be going through the finishing touches until the conveyor belt is fixed or replaced. This brings us to the next consequence of unexpected machine downtime – can you guess what it is? 

Bottlenecks

Well, it closely follows the first consequence – unplanned equipment downtime creates bottlenecks in the production process. Imagine this – five conveyor belts work in sync with the rest of the production process. However, if one belt malfunctions, then the other belts will receive more pressure than usual, causing inefficiencies. As a result, the remaining processes will be receiving the products later than usual, creating a bottleneck in the entire production process – affecting productivity.

Workplace injuries 

The third consequence is that unexpected machine failures can lead to workplace safety issues and injuries. For instance, a worker might be burned when the equipment overheats due to overexertion. Far more serious injuries have occurred in manufacturing plants where the workers were struck by objects, caught in between machinery, or worse. These workplace injuries not only hamper employee morale, but also can lead to workplace safety violations, fines, and loss of goodwill. All of this can be mitigated by ensuring proper maintenance management of the equipment – improving safety in the manufacturing industry.

Adverse impact on profits

However, the last and most common consequence of downtime in manufacturing facilities is that it severely hampers profits. Since equipment breakdowns cause losses in productivity, this has a direct impact on production, leading to fewer units being produced, sold, and lesser revenue being generated down the line. 

Since all of these consequences are related to unplanned equipment downtime, mitigating the latter can drastically reduce the consequences as well. One of the best ways to do so is by prioritizing preventive maintenance – CloudApper CMMS can help you with that. 

CloudApper CMMS helps minimize equipment downtime in manufacturing facilities

CloudApper CMMS is a robust, powerful, and entirely customizable preventative maintenance software that can help streamline maintenance management in many ways.

Manufacturing facilities, with CloudApper CMMS, can:

• Create, schedule, and assign maintenance tasks
• Ensure effective asset management
• Assign resources to work orders
• View work requests and verify them
• Ensure vendor management 
• Use layout maps to identify the location of equipment quickly
• Ensure spare parts and inventory are managed effectively
• Develop a maintenance knowledge base
• Quickly retrieve information about equipment (including work history) by scanning their barcode
• Make maintenance management entirely mobile as information can be accessed via smartphones and tablets
• Keep all the information about equipment, work history, warranties, etc. in a centralized location
• View all work orders, open tasks, offline machines, and more from the customizable dashboard

As can be seen, CloudApper CMMS for manufacturing facilities can minimize unplanned equipment downtime, simplify the maintenance process, and much more – even on the go!

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