How much of my unplanned downtime is preventable?
Unplanned downtime has become the norm for many operations, costing manufacturers precious time and money as teams fight fires and fix issues after they arise. But how much of this downtime could be avoided?
According to IDS InData, 80% of UK manufacturers experienced unplanned downtime between 2020 and 2024, around 50% of which was preventable. This costs the UK manufacturing industry an estimated £736 million every week (Fluke Corporation), highlighting the scale of the challenge facing businesses still reliant on reactive maintenance, aging infrastructure, improper setup, and increasingly, cyber-attacks.
Find out how to get started with predictive maintenance
With budgets tightening and compliance requirements becoming stricter, manufacturers cannot afford to lost time and money to avoidable failures. The question is no longer whether downtime is expensive. It is how much of it can be prevented, and what steps can be taken now to reduce the risk.
Predictive maintenance
Moving away from reactive maintenance is one of the key ways plants can meaningfully reduce downtime. Rather than waiting for equipment to fail, predictive maintenance uses data, sensors, monitoring tools, and machine learning to identify early warning signs before they become costly breakdowns.
This could include monitoring vibration, temperature, pressure, oil condition, energy usage, or other performance indicators depending on the equipment and environment. BY spotting small changes early, maintenance teams can intervene at the right time, not too early, not too late, but when action is most likely to prevent failure.
Monitoring systems come in many forms, from fully integrated, always-on platforms to handheld tools that allow engineers to carry out machinery spot checks. The right approach will depend on the type of equipment, the level of risk, available budget, and how critical each asset is to production. IM Analytics offer a comprehensive range of fully integrated condition monitoring systems that can be scaled to meet the needs of industrial plants. For spot checking conditions such as temperature, noise, speed, leaks and other key parameters, SKF’s range of condition monitoring tools provide a simple and cost-effective solution.
The result is a more planned, controlled approach to maintenance. Repairs can be scheduled around production demands, spare parts can be ordered in advance, and engineers can spend less time responding to emergencies.
Efficiency gains
Preventing downtime is not just about avoiding breakdowns. It is also about improving the way an operation runs day to day.
When maintenance become more proactive, businesses can reduce unnecessary inspections, extend asset life, and improve over equipment effectiveness. Teams gain better visibility of asset performance, which helps them identify recurring issues, bottlenecks, and areas where equipment may be underperforming.
This visibility can also support better decision-making. Instead of relying on guesswork or historical habits, manufacturers can use real-time data to prioritise maintenance activity, allocate resources more effectively while justifying investment in upgrades or replacements.
Reducing human error
A significant amount of downtime is linked not to catastrophic equipment failure, but to smaller issues such as incorrect setup, missed checks, poor documentation, or inconsistent maintenance procedures.
Being able to carry out spot checks is also key to gathering accurate information and reducing risk. Simple solutions such as the SKF QuickCollect Sensor provide a plug-and-play way to collect machine condition data, allowing engineers to track machine health from start-up through to ongoing maintenance. By making inspections quicker, easier, and more consistent, these tools leave less room for manual errors, missed warning signs, or inconsistent reporting.
Standardising processes can make a major difference. Making clear checklists, keeping on top of maintenance records, automating alerts, and ensuring operators are properly trained all help reduce the likelihood of avoidable errors. When teams have the right information at the right time, they are better equipped to spot risks before they disrupt production.
Digital tools can also make knowledge easier to share. This is especially valuable as experienced engineers retire or move roles, taking years of practical insight with them. Capturing that knowledge in systems and procedures helps protect operational resilience.
Upgrading ageing infrastructure
Ageing equipment is not always a problem in itself. Many older machines continue to perform reliably when properly maintained. However, legacy systems can become harder to monitor, repair, and integrate with modern production environments.
Manufacturers should regularly assess whether critical assets are becoming a growing source of risk. Warning signs may include increasing repair frequency, difficulty sourcing spare parts, rising energy consumption, or limited compatibility with modern monitoring systems.
In some cases, the answer may be a full replacement. In others, targeted upgrades can significantly reduce downtime risk without requiring wholesale investment.
Cybersecurity and connected systems
As more industrial equipment becomes connected, cybersecurity has become an increasingly important part of downtime prevention. A cyber incident can stop production just as quickly as a mechanical failure, and in some cases, the impact can be even more widespread.
Manufacturers should ensure that operational technology is protected as carefully as IT systems. This includes regular software updates, network segmentation, access controls, backups, and clear response plans.
Downtime prevention is no longer only the responsibility of maintenance teams. It now requires collaboration between engineering, operations, IT, and leadership.
So, how much downtime is preventable?
The exact figure will vary from site to site, but the message is clear: a significant proportion of unplanned downtime can be reduced or avoided with the right strategy.
Manufacturers that move from reactive maintenance to proactive, data-led asset management are better placed to protect production, control costs, and improve long-term resilience.
Preventing downtime does not always require a complete overhaul. Often, the biggest gains come from taking practical steps: understanding which assets are most critical, improving visibility, standardising maintenance processes, investing in the right monitoring tools, and acting on the data already available.
Unplanned downtime may never disappear completely. But for many manufacturers, a large share of it does not need to happen in the first place.
To discuss how to improve unplanned downtime in your plant, book a free courtesy production line walkthrough with our maintenance expert.*
*T&C’s apply:
Free Production Line Walkthrough T&Cs
Terms & Conditions of the offer: Only one free booking slot per month will be available in this offer. If demand is high, we will advise you on available dates. Alternatively, we can schedule a call with one of our product specialists to discuss your problems in detail and decide on best course of action.
Travel and accommodation requirements are not included in the free service, these will be charged to your company at standard mileage and accommodation rates and all cost will be agreed in writing with yourself before the work is undertaken.