Downtime Tracking Software Savings Calculator

By tracking the specific reasons for downtime, ShopFloorConnect enables you to reduce it.

The main purpose of ShopFloorConnect is to identify the sources of inefficiency, especially machine downtime. The amount of money you will save over time by implementing ShopFloorConnect will depend in large part on how aggressively you intend to work at reducing machine downtime. On our “[Savings Calculator”](https://www.shopfloorconnect.com/downtime-tracking-software-roi) page, there is an “Anticipated Downtime Reduction Effort” pull down selection with four options. The options, and their impact on the savings calculation, are described below:

A Minimal downtime reduction effort does not involve any direct machine downtime tracking, instead, it typically consists of nothing more than notifying the machine operators that ShopFloorConnect tracking software has been implemented, and deploying one or two large-format displays to show the uptime status of your machines in real time for everyone to see (using ShopFloorConnect’s Factory Viewer Equipment Summary). Our experience has shown that such an implementation usually results in a 5% reduction in machine downtime. In other words, if your current machine utilization is 60%, then your machine downtime is 40%. A 5% reduction will bring it down to 38%. This 5% reduction in downtime will be used to calculate the savings.

When “Moderate” is selected, we base the calculation on a 10% reduction of your current machine downtime. So if your current machine utilization is 65% uptime/35% downtime, a Moderate Downtime Reduction effort will cause a downtime decrease of 3.5% (10% of 35), reducing downtime from 35% to 31.5% and increasing machine utilization % from 65% to 68.5%.
Such an increase is easily realized when operators use the ShopFloorConnect Machine Interface machine downtime tracking menu to identify the real reasons for downtime, and you begin to pick off some of the “low-hanging fruit” on the less efficient machines. In addition, real-time displays such as ShopFloorConnect’s Performance Summary allow personnel to quickly spot under performing machines, enabling more timely corrective action.

When “Focused” is selected, we base our savings calculation on a 15% reduction of the current downtime. Typical downtime reduction efforts in a “focused” program are the same principles described under the “moderate” program, but with more stringent and widespread application throughout the factory.

For an Aggressive program, we base our saving calculation on a 20% reduction in the current downtime. So if your machine utilization is currently at 60%, an aggressive approach to machine downtime reduction can increase that to 68%. This is accomplished with a full application of ShopFloorConnect’s downtime tracking and reporting functions, real time displays, and the Alert feature to immediately notify the appropriate personnel each time a machine stops for a prolonged period of time.