A breakdown costs more than a repair. It can stop production, tie up your team, and delay orders. Catching equipment problems earlier gives you time to plan the work. See what that could save your operation.
Less downtime means more time producing. Planned repairs can also reduce emergency costs and product losses.
| Cost | What to count |
|---|---|
| Lost production | The value you lose while equipment is down and orders cannot move. |
| Emergency repairs | Extra overtime, rush parts, and callout fees. |
| Scrap or spoilage | Materials or finished products lost during a breakdown. |
| Cost of monitoring | Sensors, installation, software, connectivity, and support. |
We’ve filled in a starting estimate based on avoiding one eight-hour stoppage a year, at $2,500 per hour. Adjust any number to see the value for your operation.
Adjust the numbers to match your equipment and budget.
Potential annual savings = avoided downtime hours × cost per hour + other costs avoided.
First-year net savings = potential annual savings − annual monitoring cost − upfront cost.
First-year ROI compares those net savings with the total first-year cost. Payback estimates how long savings after ongoing costs would take to cover the upfront cost.
Starting values are estimates. Your quote and actual savings will depend on your site.
Published examples show how monitoring helps teams find equipment problems and reduce costs. These examples describe other manufacturers’ programs.
At 3M’s Brookings plant, sensors on 50 steam traps helped maintenance find failures sooner. The site estimated $32,000 in annual energy savings and reduced the average time to discover a failed trap from 33 days to 12.
Read the published case studyAt a ceramics plant, monitoring revealed that a blower was running for 30 minutes on a batch that needed seven. The team found and repaired an intermittently stuck valve, then added alarms for unusually long run times.
Read the published case studyPacific Northwest National Laboratory summarizes earlier studies that estimated this saving for predictive maintenance compared with preventive maintenance alone.
Read the maintenance guidanceManufacturers using more predictive maintenance reported less unplanned downtime than those using more preventive maintenance. NIST treats this small-group comparison as exploratory evidence.
Read the manufacturing studyChoose machines with costly stops. Note recent downtime, emergency repairs, and production losses before monitoring begins.
Use the readings to investigate developing problems. Record what your team finds and the repairs it plans.
Compare downtime and emergency repair costs before and after monitoring to see where it is making a difference.
Tell us what you run. We’ll help you choose where to start.