What is unplanned downtime costing us?
Unplanned downtime costs what the line would have earned plus what you paid while it stood still: lost units times margin, idle labour, and the expediting and scrap that follow. Most small plants find the annual figure is several times what they assumed, because idle labour and expedites are rarely counted.
Computes in your browser. Nothing is saved or sent unless you ask. The link updates with your inputs, so a result can be shared.
Reviewed
Good output when the line runs.
Contribution margin, not sale price.
Stops nobody planned: faults, jams, waiting on parts or people.
Everyone paid while the line is down, loaded rate.
Overtime, rush freight, scrapped work-in-progress.
What monitoring plus the top two fixes typically remove. Your number, not ours.
Cost per down hour
Lost margin plus idle labour.
Per month
Per year
216 unplanned hours a year.
A 20% reduction is worth
Per year. This is the number a monitoring project has to beat.
How this is calculated
Cost per hour = units/h × margin + idle labour.
Monthly = unplanned hours × cost per hour + expedites and scrap.
Annual = monthly × 12. Reduction value = annual × reduction %.
Planning numbers, not a quote — a written scope follows a conversation.
How to use it
- 1Enter units per hour and margin per unit for the line.
- 2Enter unplanned hours in a typical month.
- 3Add the labour standing idle and any expedite or scrap cost per month.
- 4Read the monthly and annual cost, and what a 20% reduction returns.
These are planning numbers, not a quote — a written scope follows a conversation. We publish no prices.
Asked about this tool
Why does it count idle labour?
Because the shift is paid whether the line runs or not. Lost margin alone understates the cost by the wages spent waiting.
Where does the 20% reduction come from?
It is a planning assumption, not a promise. Plants that start tracking downtime reasons typically find the top two reasons account for most of it, and those are the ones monitoring and small fixes remove first. Change the figure to whatever you believe.
Does this tell me what monitoring costs?
No. It tells you what the problem costs, which is the number a monitoring project has to beat. A written scope follows a conversation about your line.
Strategy. Software. Systems.
Bring the number to a conversation.
Describe the line, the part, or the process. An engineer replies within one business day with whether and how we would approach it.
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One line is enough. A person reads it and replies within a business day.