What machine downtime really costs (and how to cut it)
A simple way to calculate the cost of one hour of downtime in a print shop or converting plant, and the levers to reduce it.
When a machine stops, the technician’s invoice is only the visible part of the cost. The biggest part never appears on any invoice: lost production, idle staff, deliveries at risk.
What to add up
- Lost margin: how much margin the machine produces in a normal hour.
- Idle staff: hourly cost of operators who cannot work or are moved elsewhere.
- Recovery: overtime, extra shifts or outsourcing to catch up.
- Waste and restarts: material used to get back into register and colour.
- Penalties and customers: late deliveries, penalties, the risk of losing a customer.
An example (indicative figures)
Picture a press generating €150 of margin per hour, with two operators at €30 an hour each. An 8-hour stop already costs €1,200 of margin and €480 of labour, before waste, overtime and the technician. If finding the right technician takes two days instead of one, the bill doubles.
How to reduce it
- Planned preventive maintenance during quiet periods.
- A log of faults and machine hours, for faster diagnosis.
- Critical spare parts in stock (belts, sensors, suction cups, specific fuses).
- A specialist technician already identified for your brand and model, with clear terms agreed in advance.
- Prepaid service hours: no quotes to chase while the machine is down.
REPANOW was built for the last part of the problem: quickly finding the right technician for your machine, with hourly costs already set in your hour package and a service report after every job.