3 Advantages to Limiting Your Manufacturing Downtime

Downtime is an inevitable hassle in the world of manufacturing. As long as there is machinery, various factors can cause machinery to go out of commission temporarily. And when this happens, it brings the entire operation to a screeching halt.

While downtime is inevitable, that doesn’t mean there aren’t advantages to limiting your manufacturing downtime as much as possible. Doing so will put your business in a better position overall.

Decreased Cost

There are several layers of cost associated with manufacturing equipment downtime. When machinery goes down, it costs money to pay for someone to come in and repair it. Even if you are able to make the repairs yourself, you will likely have to pay for new parts.

The other costs associated with downtime are less direct and related to overall profit loss. When machinery is down, your operation, naturally, won’t be able to create more products. This wastes your company’s time, forcing you to pay for the cost of operation without the payback.

Improved Efficiency

As mentioned, machine downtime can greatly slow down your entire operation. But the loss of efficiency isn’t limited to the times when machines aren’t running. Research has shown that when we face interruptions in the middle of a task, it can take us over twenty minutes to refocus.

In other words, every time machines go down and interrupt your operation’s workflow, the overall efficiency of your business continues to be disrupted even after machines are back online. The fewer interruptions you have, the more efficient your workforce is.

Increased Employee Morale

At first glance, this may seem like an unlikely advantage to reducing manufacturing downtime. After all, it would seem like having unexpected breaks during the day would be a boost to employee morale.

However, if you’re an employee tasked with completing a job, having to struggle with machines and tools that constantly break down can lead to frustration. Beyond this, a machine breaking down can become dangerous to those who are working with them, leading to further stress.

How To Reduce Manufacturing Downtime

All machines break down eventually, so it’s impossible to avoid downtime forever. However, there are several things you can do as a company to reduce downtime.

• Establish an inspection schedule for employees
• Increase training for machinery operators
• Make accurate records of machine downtime
• Update machinery
• Perform regular preventative maintenance

Part of performing preventative maintenance is taking care of smaller machine issues before they grow into larger problems.

At Industrial Automations, we want to be sure you have parts such as AC servo motors available so you can replace damaged machine components before they cause damage to the rest of your equipment.