The ultimate guide to maintenance KPIs in manufacturing

Targets are important for manufacturers. Things like capacity expectations, production quotas, and expected units produced dictate the day-to-day operations of every production facility. When those targets are put in jeopardy, the whole business suffers. That’s why manufacturers need to keep a different kind of target top of mind: maintenance KPIs.

In this article, we’ll take a deep dive into maintenance KPIs in manufacturing, including what they are, how to calculate them, which benchmarks to measure yourself against, and how to improve them.

Key takeaways

• The five essential KPIs every manufacturing maintenance team should track are MTTR, MTBF, OEE, downtime costs, and PM compliance.
• Successful KPI implementation starts with tracking two to three core metrics on critical equipment before expanding to comprehensive dashboards.
• Modern CMMS platforms automate KPI calculation and reporting, reducing manual tracking time by several hours per week.

What are maintenance KPIs for manufacturers?

Every facility should establish maintenance KPIs, which are quantifiable targets that set maintenance performance goals against business objectives. In manufacturing, these KPIs are directly tied to strategic objectives like production capacity, product quality, and operational efficiency.

When manufacturers pay attention to maintenance KPIs, they can bridge the gap between maintenance activities and manufacturing outcomes, like throughput, cost per unit, and on-time delivery. 

An important aside: maintenance KPIs are distinct from maintenance metrics—we like to say that maintenance metrics show what happened, while maintenance KPIs show what should happen.

Top five maintenance KPIs for manufacturing

Mean time to repair (MTTR)

Why it matters: MTTR measures the average time it takes to return equipment to operational status after a failure. 

Maximizing uptime is a number one priority for manufacturers, and repairs eat into that time. By tracking and benchmarking MTTR, it’s easier to predict how much maintenance activities will impact production schedules. 

How to calculate it: MTTR = Total repair time / Number of repairs

Benchmarks for MTTR: Although MTTR benchmarks vary by equipment type and repair type, an MTTR of less than two hours is ideal for critical equipment with an acceptable range being two and five hours. Of course, the more costly downtime is at your facility, the shorter your MTTR should be. Try to benchmark against yourself, taking the current average MTTR for a task and improving on it over time.

How to track MTTR: Choose an interval for a critical asset (start with monthly) and track the total repair time for that asset within that interval (this can be captured through work order data and notes). This includes the time spent repairing, but also the time spent waiting for an overheated asset to cool down, diagnose the problem, and restart the machinery. Then divide that number by the number of repairs completed within that interval.

Using a mobile-first CMMS, you can use work order data to track MTTR by month, quarter, or year and filter for certain assets. 

How to improve MTTR: Information and tools are two of your best defenses against a MTTR that’s creeping higher. A mobile-first CMMS lets technicians easily access SOPs, asset history, and accurate information on spare parts inventory when they need it. This lets them complete and close out work orders quickly and accurately.

How other manufacturers have improved MTTR: Ahlstrom reduced MTTR by 90%—from 580 to 60 hours a month— when they implemented a CMMS to capture knowledge and create a proper PM schedule that significantly reduced downtime.

Mean time between failures (MTBF)

Why it matters: MTBF calculates the average time a piece of equipment typically runs before it fails. 

Knowing how long a repair should take is one thing. Knowing when to expect it is another. Tracking MTBF helps predict equipment reliability. By keeping track of it, maintenance teams can optimize preventive maintenance schedules for manufacturing assets.

How to calculate it: MTBF = Total operating time / Number of failures

Benchmarks for MTBF: As with MTTR, MTBF can vary widely based on the asset and the operating context of that asset. However, most manufacturers try to stay within 500–2,000 hours as a benchmark.

How to track MTBF: For critical assets, you can calculate MTBF by dividing the number of operating hours in a given period for that asset by the number of failures that occurred within that time period. For example, if one asset ran for 500 hours in a month and failed three times, your MTBF for the month is 166.67.

This is another KPI you can plot over time and continually compare to your own data and industry benchmarks. If you’re using a CMMS, you can generate an automated MTBF report that lands in your inbox weekly. 

How to improve MTBF: The longer you track MTBF, the better you’ll get at using it to predict breakdowns. Over time, you can use MTBF data to adjust PM intervals for critical assets. In a best-case scenario, you’ll be able to avoid breakdowns altogether by intervening at the right time. 

How other maintenance teams have improved MTBF: Michaels increased their MTBF by 20% by using MaintainX to create more data visibility and clearer workflows.

Overall equipment effectiveness (OEE)

Why it matters: OEE is the KPI that tells manufacturers how well their equipment is running and producing. It combines asset availability, performance, and quality to provide a comprehensive production efficiency measurement.

How to calculate it: OEE = Availability × Performance × Quality, where:

• Availability = (Actual operating time / Planned production time)
• Performance = (Actual production rate / Ideal production rate)
• Quality = (Good units produced / Total units produced)

Benchmarks for OEE: A score of 85% or higher is considered world class for discrete manufacturers. A score between 60% and 85% means there’s room for improvement, while a score below 60% suggests there are inefficiencies and significant room for improvement.

How to track OEE: Since there are three components to OEE, there are three metrics to track:

• Track availability through downtime logs.
• Track performance through run rates and output counts.
• Track quality through defect, scrap, and rework data. This should be captured automatically where possible and validated by operators. 

With a CMMS, you can also generate automated OEE reports weekly. Pay close attention to OEE over time. The more you know the factors affecting OEE, the more you can improve each aspect and your overall score.

How to improve OEE: Since there are three components to OEE, there are three areas in which you can improve. To improve availability, you can prevent equipment failures and downtime with preventive maintenance. To improve performance, you can focus on isolating and eliminating bottlenecks in the production process. To improve quality, focus on reducing defects with the right inspection and maintenance schedule. 

How other manufacturers have improved OEE: After implementing MaintainX, Tosca increased OEE by over 25 percentage points. It now consistently sits above 80%.

Downtime cost

Why it matters: Downtime causes sky-high costs for manufacturers (for auto manufacturers, a single hour of downtime can cost up to $2.3 million). Keeping a target number in mind can motivate workers to avoid unnecessary downtime at all costs. 

How to calculate it: Downtime cost = (Units/Hour x Margin/Unit x Hours down) + Labor costs + parts costs

Benchmarks for downtime cost: Since downtime costs vary so widely between facilities and industries, this is one of those KPIs you can create an internal benchmark for. Aiming to cut your current downtime costs in half is a great target to start with. 

‍How to track downtime cost: It’s important to keep a record of any downtime that occurs by using a mobile CMMS to create and close work orders (and add notes for context). Tracking downtime costs month over month can help you see an improvement.

How to improve downtime cost: The less downtime your facility has, the lower your downtime costs will be. Preventive maintenance programs exist to reduce unplanned downtime as much as possible. So if you’re starting from zero (that is, mostly reactive maintenance), use a CMMS to introduce preventive maintenance for critical assets. Check out this article on reducing maintenance costs in the next 90 days, and this one on cutting downtime costs for practical strategies for improving downtime costs.

How other manufacturers have improved downtime cost: Magnera saved over $575,000 per year just by implementing a CMMS that allowed them to reduce downtime by 12 hours per month. 

PM compliance

Why it matters: Preventive maintenance tasks (PMs) are the backbone of any preventive maintenance strategy, and tracking PM compliance is the best way to ensure they’re being completed on schedule. Tracking scheduled maintenance completion rates is critical for avoiding unplanned production disruptions.

How to calculate it: PM Compliance = (# of completed tasks ÷ number of scheduled tasks) × 100

Benchmarks for PM compliance: Generally, manufacturers should aim for a PM compliance rate above 90%, meaning 90% of PMs are completed on time. 

This doesn’t mean that every task is completed at exactly the time it’s due. Many manufacturers follow the 10% rule, which says that a task is schedule compliant if it’s been completed within a 10% timeframe of its due date.

How to track PM compliance: You can run a “created vs completed work orders” report through your CMMS to show how PM compliance changes over time. This is a great KPI to include on a shop floor dashboard to motivate workers to complete tasks on time. 

How to improve PM compliance: Like MTTR, PM compliance improves when technicians have the information and tools they need to complete tasks satisfactorily and on time. Additionally, performing regular PM audits is important to make sure no unnecessary or redundant tasks are affecting your compliance rate.

How other manufacturers have improved PM compliance: Wauseon Machine increased their PM compliance from 60% to 100% by implementing a CMMS that allowed them to better manage work orders.

Four under-the radar maintenance KPIs to track

The five KPIs we listed above are great for any manufacturer to track and benchmark against. But there are other KPIs that can add additional context to your maintenance operations, depending on your goals. 

Failed inspection rate

Failed inspection rate refers to the percentage of PMs that failed and led to follow-up corrective work. There’s a balance between a failure rate that is too high and not high enough. A high failure rate can point to equipment that should be replaced, improper operation of a machine, or faulty spares being used. A low failure rate can mean that pencil whipping is too commonplace or that your PM schedule is a little too aggressive.

How to calculate it: Failed inspection rate = Number of failed inspections / Total number of inspections

Benchmarks for failed inspection rate: A failed inspection rate of 5% to 10% is considered average.

Planned vs unplanned maintenance ratio

The goal of any preventive maintenance program is to reduce the amount of unplanned downtime in the facility. Measuring planned vs unplanned maintenance is the way to assess how well your maintenance program is achieving that goal. 

How to calculate it: Planned vs unplanned maintenance ratio = Total planned maintenance hours / Total maintenance hours

Benchmarks for planned vs unplanned maintenance ratio: Manufacturing facilities should target about 80% planned maintenance to minimize production disruptions.

Equipment downtime impact on production

It’s important for maintenance managers to know how much downtime is affecting production. It helps plan around high-volume times to perform maintenance when it’s least impactful to the bottom line. 

How to calculate it: Downtime impact = Downtime hours x Production rate per hour

Benchmarks for equipment downtime impact on production: Obviously, the lower the impact, the better. But preventive maintenance means enduring necessary shutdowns for regular inspections and repairs, so as long as your impact is more or less tracking with what your PM schedule predicts it should be, you’re in a good place.

Parts inventory turnover

Parts inventory plays a huge role in how efficiently maintenance teams can do their job. It’s essential to know which parts are available at all times, and this calculation helps optimize spare parts investment while ensuring critical components are available at the right time. 

How to calculate it: Inventory turnover = Cost of parts used / Average inventory value

Benchmarks for parts inventory turnover: 2-4 times per year is considered a healthy target for most parts. 

How to implement manufacturing maintenance KPIs effectively

Just like any maintenance project, you should have a plan in place for how you’ll implement KPIs. Here are a few tips to roll it out the right way:

Start small

Choose two core KPIs to focus on first (many start with MTTR and MTBF and apply them only to critical production equipment). Once you’ve wrapped your head around these two KPIs for a certain set of equipment, you can build out from there. 

Implement a mobile-first CMMS

We’ve mentioned this a few times already, but a mobile CMMS takes away the grunt work of tracking KPIs. In fact, most platforms will automatically calculate KPIs from your work order data and send you a weekly automated report with the takeaways. 

Set realistic benchmarks

Industry benchmarks are helpful, but they shouldn’t be your only data point. Over time, you should be able to take your own industry and facility-specific factors into account to set KPIs that make sense for your specific set of circumstances. 

Create custom dashboards

Dashboards are a great way to quickly and easily communicate the efficacy of your maintenance efforts. Many manufacturers display a dashboard on the shop floor to motivate technicians. 

Similarly, you can create an executive dashboard that presents certain KPIs in business terms like production capacity gained and cost savings achieved. This makes it much easier to justify maintenance investments.

To learn more about how MaintainX can help you track and improve your manufacturing KPIs, book a free tour today.