Unplanned Downtime Costs Indian Businesses INR 7 Million per Hour: ABB Survey

A recent survey commissioned by ABB has revealed a substantial cost incurred by Indian industrial businesses due to unplanned outages. The “Value of Reliability” survey emphasized the close connection between uptime and reliability, emphasizing the significance of effective maintenance strategies and service partnerships.

The survey, conducted in July 2023 by Sapio Research, collected responses from 3,215 plant maintenance decision-makers globally, covering various sectors such as metals, oil and gas, chemicals, energy generation, and more. It aimed to provide insights into current maintenance practices and ways to reduce unplanned downtime.

Key findings from the survey showed that 88 percent of Indian industrial businesses experience unplanned outages at least once a month, resulting in a substantial cost of nearly INR 7 million per hour. This is in contrast to the global figure of 69 percent, which costs businesses around INR 10.3 million per hour. Surprisingly, 19 percent of Indian businesses still rely on a run-to-fail maintenance strategy.

The survey demonstrated that maintenance significantly contributes to uptime. Globally, 92 percent of respondents reported that maintenance increased their uptime in the past year, with 38 percent seeing an improvement of at least 25 percent. Three-quarters of respondents highlighted the positive impact of reliability on business reputation and financial performance. In addition, it helps in meeting contractual obligations, reducing waste, and securing repeat business. Reliability was the top priority for respondents when purchasing new equipment.

Looking ahead, 60 percent of the surveyed businesses plan to increase their investment in reliability and maintenance over the next three years, with one-third considering a spend increase of more than 10 percent. An impressive 90 percent of respondents expressed interest in outcome-based maintenance agreements, which involve paying service partners based on achieved outcomes like increased uptime or energy efficiency.

Amit Gupta, discussing the survey’s results, emphasized the need to shift the industry’s focus toward energy efficiency and reliability. Gupta suggested incorporating digitalization for enhanced decision-making and adopting a forward-thinking, outcome-based approach for the long term. Transitioning from high-risk run-to-fail maintenance to an outcome-based strategy, he noted, would improve reliability, business reputation, competitiveness, cut costs, and provide peace of mind, allowing businesses to focus on their core competencies.

This new outcome-based maintenance model is expected to help industrial businesses meet impending emissions targets and tackle climate change. Additionally, it will address the industry’s skills gap, particularly as experienced technicians reach retirement age.