TRANSDUCERS, TRANSMITTERS & SENSORS


BUILDING DOWNTIME RESILIENCE FOR THE FUTURE


Paraic O’Lochlainn, VP of eMaint at Fluke Corporation,


addresses the issue of downtime on an international scale, and explains how predictive and preventative


maintenance turns data into decision intelligence


owntime is an open secret everyone knows, but solutions often focus on surface-level fixes rather than root causes. Across countries such as the UK, Germany, and the US, it may hit in different ways, but the impact is the same: lower productivity and compromised profitability. In a world defined by disruption, downtime is more than just a maintenance issue. Businesses must understand it poses a strategic vulnerability that could affect long- term competitiveness.


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Fluke’s 2025 cross-market research, conducted in partnership with Censuswide, surveyed 600 senior manufacturing leaders across the UK, Germany, and the US. It revealed that 61% of global manufacturers experienced unplanned downtime in the past year, losing up to an estimated $852 million every week.


The impact of downtime Downtime has become a silent global tax on productivity. The losses extend beyond factory walls: diminished customer confidence, stalled deliveries, and weakened competitiveness compound with every hour lost. Fluke’s data shows that nearly one in five manufacturers experience downtime multiple times per day, and 15% report events lasting up to three days. In financial terms, even the best-case scenarios still cost around $5 million per incident. In severe cases, costs can reach $126 million per incident.


The most intriguing finding is


psychological. More than 40% of C-suites in the survey said downtime directly undermines customer trust. Another 37% cited the impact on workforce morale, with employee frustration and attrition increasing


16 MARCH 2026 | PROCESS & CONTROL


as disruptions persist. When people lose faith in systems, they start losing faith in leadership. In the UK, downtime often manifests as long-duration outages. Manufacturers face structural barriers, from data silos to outdated assets, that make it difficult to move beyond reactive maintenance. The top challenge cited by UK C-suites is insufficient data or technology infrastructure (52%), followed by cybersecurity concerns and limited integration of new digital tools.


Obstacles to predictive maintenance In Germany, the issue is more cultural. While it leads on automation and data-driven manufacturing, 44% of German leaders cite limited internal skills or training as the main obstacle to predictive maintenance. Germany’s manufacturing sector also experiences more frequent delays in obtaining spare parts, with 33% saying maintenance is “very frequently” delayed due to long lead times.


In the US, budget and resource constraints are the headline findings. Forty-three percent of American C-suites identified lack of funding as their main barrier to modernising maintenance, while nearly half (45%) said regulatory and compliance burdens slow down technology integration.


Despite these variations, the outcome is strikingly consistent: frequent, expensive, and compounding downtime.


Downtime is a universal problem; therefore the solution must be too. Effective resilience depends on “connected reliability”, an integrated ecosystem where people, data, and assets are synchronised across the enterprise.


This approach represents a shift from


firefighting to foresight. Instead of responding to failure, organisations anticipate it through continuous insight. Predictive and prescriptive maintenance models turn data from sensors,


machines, and cloud systems into real-time decision intelligence, connecting shop-floor activity with boardroom strategy. Technology alone cannot solve downtime. Leadership and culture are decisive factors. Despite growing investment in digital transformation, only 17% of leaders say their workforce is fully trained on new technologies introduced in the past two years. In Germany, 25% of firms report full training coverage, compared to 17% in the US and just 10% in the UK. This gap points to a core truth: resilience is built as much through people as through systems. A connected workforce that understands how to interpret data and act on insights is the backbone of a connected enterprise.


The choice for manufacturers is clear: continue reacting in silos or commit to systemic resilience. Downtime has exposed a shared vulnerability for manufacturers across the globe. Long, infrequent shocks in the UK, frequent interruptions in Germany, and resource constraints in the US all trace back to the same cause – fragmented reliability.


Rethink strategies to combat risk It is time for businesses to rethink strategies to combat downtime risks. Those who master this connected resilience will be stay ahead in this volatile world.


eMaint CMMS is a cloud-based computerised maintenance management system (CMMS) used to manage maintenance activities, assets and reliability programmes. It helps companies manage work order and maintenance schedules, track asset health and history, monitor condition data from machines, manage spare parts, inventory and maintenance costs and run preventative and predictive maintenance programmes.


Fluke www.fluke.com/en-gb


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