Downtime Tracking

Why is downtime tracking important?

If you were to experience unexpected equipment failure within your company, what would the result be?

Would you be able to keep working through this downtime, or would you have to pause everything, potentially losing customers, work, and profits? For most businesses, it’s the latter. We rely so heavily on equipment of all kinds, from machinery to IT services, that downtime can be seriously disruptive.

Not only might your company not be able to carry out any work, but even if it could during this unexpected downtime, your resources could be stretched.

Personnel will have to be diverted away from their usual work to help in other departments or to assist with repairing equipment, and the results could be much lower quality than you would want or your customers expect.

The consequences of company downtime events are costly, disruptive, and unproductive. In the most extreme situations, too much downtime can be catastrophic, leading to the failure of the business.

Downtime tracking and collecting downtime data is clearly the route to go down to ensure that this doesn’t happen.

Collecting Downtime Data

The best way to collect downtime data is to use specially designed software, and PerformOEE™ is the ideal solution. State of the art and designed with your business in mind, this software can assist in collecting the downtime events your business goes through, giving you the data you need to ensure that they are not as disruptive and problematic as they could be. Machine failure no longer needs to be such an issue when you can record downtime.

It is certainly possible to use a CMMS (computerized maintenance management system) to conduct downtime tracking, but using a dedicated piece of software means a more in-depth investigation can be carried out, and better analysis will be offered up.

When you are collecting downtime data for tracking downtime, it’s crucial to understand how the information is logged. Using specialist software like PerformOEE™ means that you can see all your data in easy-to-read, easy-to-understand fields, offering you the chance to make changes and updates as necessary.

The Benefits Of Downtime Tracking

Become Proactive

You might wonder why tracking downtime is so crucial for your business. Of course, you’ll want to reduce equipment downtime, but surely this can be done as and when required? The truth is that by tracking your downtime you can put preventive maintenance measures in place, helping you to come more proactive than reactive.

Automated downtime tracking can be set up to record downtime in a way that works for you. By taking note of what the results say, you can put these all-important preventive maintenance efforts in place, knowing in advance where the issues lie.

Measure Your Efficiency

It is vital that you are always aware of your company's efficiency. With automated downtime tracking software, your output production will be measured in real-time. The software can then even compare this information with the potential that could be realized.

Not only can you see exactly where your company is less efficient in terms of its output, but you can also see any shifts or trends, allowing you to determine exactly what the cause of the problem might be.

When you can see what your efficiency is compared to what it could and should be, you can make the necessary adjustments and boost your business hugely, increasing your profits and stretching its reach by implementing continuous improvement programs.

Know Your Biggest Downtime Issue

Not only can you use software like PerformOEE™ to track your efficiency, but you can also use it to look into the cause, the frequency, and the length of downtime events.

By looking into the reports that this will give you, you can easily determine exactly what the biggest issue in your company is with regards to downtime. And to make this an even better way of working, it can be done in real-time. That means as soon as you experience any unplanned downtime, you can find out what, why, and how before machine uptime again. It could be operator error, it could be the equipment itself, or it might be something further reaching. Whatever it is, you’ll know about it.

This system can even be used when it comes to planned downtime. Knowing how long equipment downtime will take to complete means you can schedule everything accordingly, ensuring that your business isn’t affected during the routine – and necessary – maintenance.

When you can see the cause of any downtime your equipment might be experiencing, you can also see the impact on machine uptime and production. This will allow you to prioritize the relevant maintenance issues or even additional purchases using the data to help you make the right decisions.

Utilizing Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE)

When you run a business, understanding your overall equipment effectiveness (OEE) from the plant floor to the boardroom is crucial. Without this knowledge, you won’t know how efficient the company’s equipment is, whether it’s doing the job you want it to do and whether the money spent was worth it.

In terms of business, the need to save costs has to be a priority, and equipment that is lacking or ineffective in some way is expensive. Equipment efficiency is a vital component in your budget and the real-time data from tracking software can help.

Downtime tracking software will help you see which pieces of equipment are effective and which are always failing – or fail enough to make a big impact on your productivity and bottom line. Once you know this, you can remove that equipment and replace it with something that will work better, reducing any issues, and allowing your operations manager to do their jobs more easily.

Most operations managers will know which lines, machines or equipment work well and which don’t but without the additional evidence produced by understanding the role of machine downtime, it may be a challenge to do anything about it. Using this software means the evidence is there since the issues are tracked automatically, and important changes can be made thanks to accurate analysis. Only the most efficient equipment will be in use in your business, increasing your overall efficiency and improving your reputation.

Review Your Historical Performance

Using real-time data to understand what effect downtime is having on your business is important and valuable, but being able to review your historical performance is just as crucial, and it’s something that data tracking software can offer you. You can choose which months, weeks, days or shifts to look more closely into, giving you a complete and accurate snapshot of the business performance at that time.

This will help you to identify the overall efficiency of your business and implement improvements at the right time. As you reduce the propensity for equipment downtime within your company, you can see the effect this has as time goes by, ensuring you are able to increase efficiency and that what you are doing is moving things in the right direction.

Look At The Short And Long Term

One of the key features of downtime tracking software is that while it can reduce costs and allow business owners to gain insights into their total downtime with real-time visibility, this data isn’t just something that can be used for short-term efficiency. It’s not something that can only be used for quick maintenance fixes and analysis. This information can also be used in the long term.

Planning ahead for downtime issues, for planned maintenance, for employee vacations, for training, and so much more can all be done much more easily when you are tracking your data using the right software. Even unexpected downtime doesn’t have to be an issue because you will already have contingency plans in place.

Contact Us Today

Get in touch today to discuss how PerformOEE™ data tracking software can enhance your organization and give you the chance to gain insights into the inner workings of what you do. When you start tracking your downtime, you can be more effective, more productive, and your reputation will only be enhanced. Equipment downtime no longer has to spell disaster for an organization when you can use it to your advantage.