Unplanned downtime rarely shows up as its own line item — but it's one of the biggest costs in any maintenance operation. Plug in your numbers to see the annual total, and what catching failures early could save.
Studies put preventable, downtime-driving failures at 30–50% for teams that move from reactive to scheduled maintenance.
Your unplanned downtime costs
$30,000 / year
$10,500
Catching 35% of these failures before they happen.
RunTight is free for teams up to 25. Every prevented breakdown goes straight to your bottom line.
The annual cost of unplanned downtime is the number of breakdowns per year multiplied by the cost of each event. Each event combines two things: the lost-production cost (your hourly downtime cost times the hours the line is down) and the direct repair cost (emergency parts, after-hours service, and expedited shipping). Reactive repairs almost always cost more than the same work done on a schedule, because everything happens under time pressure.
The savings figure applies the percentage of failures a preventive maintenance program could realistically catch before they cause downtime. Even a conservative reduction usually dwarfs the cost of the software that schedules the work.
Multiply how often equipment fails (breakdowns per year) by the cost of each event. The cost of each event is the hourly cost of lost production times the hours of downtime, plus the repair cost (parts, emergency service, and expedited shipping). This calculator does that math for you and adds it up across a year.
It varies widely by industry and operation. Small manufacturers often estimate $150–$500 per hour once you account for idle labor, missed production, and late orders; larger or highly automated lines can run into thousands per hour. Use a figure that reflects your own lost output.
Teams moving from reactive to scheduled preventive maintenance commonly eliminate 30–50% of the unplanned failures that drive downtime, because issues are caught during planned service instead of failing in production.
Related: CMMS ROI Calculator · Reducing unplanned downtime in a small factory