ABB survey reveals unplanned downtime costs INR 7 million per hour

By OEM Update Editorial October 12, 2023 11:42 am IST

ABB’s ‘Value of Reliability’ survey highlights the impact of unplanned downtime on Indian industrial businesses, revealing a substantial cost and a call for outcome-based maintenance strategies.

According to the new “Value of Reliability” survey from ABB, 88 percent of Indian industrial businesses experience unplanned outages at least once a month, compared to 69 percent globally. This costs the typical Indian business* close to INR 7 million per hour*, compared to INR 10.3 million globally. Despite this, 19 percent of Indian businesses surveyed still rely on run-to-fail maintenance.

The survey, conducted by Sapio Research in July 2023, gathered responses from 3,215 plant maintenance decision-makers globally across the metals, oil and gas, chemicals, energy generation, food and beverage, plastics and rubber, water and wastewater, rail, utilities, marine, wind sectors. It is part of a report that provides insights into how businesses currently manage maintenance and how they can reduce unplanned downtime.

The findings demonstrate the importance of equipment reliability and maintenance. Globally, ninety-two percent reported that maintenance has increased their uptime in the last year, with 38 percent reporting an improvement of at least a quarter. Also, three-quarters of respondents said that reliability positively impacts their business reputation and financial performance, and helps them meet contractual obligations, prevent waste and secure repeat business. Reliability was rated by respondents as the top priority when purchasing new equipment.

Looking forward, 60 percent plan to increase their investment in reliability and maintenance in the next three years, with a third planning to boost spend by more than 10 percent. Nine in ten respondents expressed interest in outcome-based maintenance agreements. Under these, operators pay service partners based on achieved outcomes, such as increased uptime or energy efficiency. This results in efficient and effective service delivery with predictable cashflow. 

Speaking about the results of the survey, Amit Gupta, Division President, Motion Services, ABB India said: “The study’s findings make it abundantly clear that our industry frequently underestimates the genuine consequences of unplanned downtime, and the survey strongly corroborates this reality. This serves as a pivotal moment for our industry to shift its collective focus towards energy efficiency, recognizing the substantial impact of downtime. It’s paramount that we invest in bolstering reliability, incorporate digitalization to enhance decision-making, and adopt a forward-thinking, outcome-based approach for the long term. With this in mind, industrial businesses should aim to progress from a high-risk run-to-fail maintenance approach to a long-term outcome-based strategy. This will improve reliability, business reputation, competitivity, cut costs, and provide peace of mind – empowering businesses to focus on their core competence.”

This new, outcome-based model to maintenance will help industrial businesses meet incoming emissions targets and regulations as the world fights against climate change. In addition, it will help overcome the industry skills gap as experienced technicians reach retirement age.