Skip to content
MarketScale
‹ Back to IndustriesEngineering & Construction

What’s the True Cost of Machine Downtime?

The continuous modernization of industrial processes is dizzying and exciting. All Systems Go is a show that intends to demystify the varying technologies—from UAVs and robotics to supply chain software and virtual reality sims—and how they will advance everything from logistics to manufacturing across the globe. Senseye’s recently-launched report, “The True Cost of Downtime,” found that…

This story was produced through MarketScale. See how Engineering & Construction teams put it to work with Partner & Channel Enablement.

Share

Get featured

Want to get featured in MarketScale Engineering & Construction?

Create a free MarketScale workspace and get your company's expertise featured across our Engineering & Construction coverage. No credit card, no demo required.

Start free

The continuous modernization of industrial processes is dizzying and exciting. All Systems Go is a show that intends to demystify the varying technologies—from UAVs and robotics to supply chain software and virtual reality sims—and how they will advance everything from logistics to manufacturing across the globe.

Senseye’s recently-launched report, “The True Cost of Downtime,” found that large facilities lose 27 hours a month to machine failures, on average, at the cost of $532,000 for each hour of unplanned downtime.

Total losses are estimated to total $3.3 million production hours, worth US$864 billion per year across Fortune Global 500 industrial companies.

The results were compiled from studies of 72 major multinational industrial and manufacturing companies.

Alexander Hill, Chief Global Strategist of Senseye, said that unplanned downtime is “the curse of the industrial sector.” When expensive production lines and machinery stop, organizations stop earning, and those investments start costing rather than making money.

The sector hardest hit is automotive, even after years of investment in automation and systems. Auto plants were found to lose, on average, 29 production hours a month at the cost of $1.3 million per hour.

Mining, metals and other heavy-industrial companies lose 23 hours/month, equating to 1.2 million hours a year across the sector. At $187,500/hour, this adds up to $225 billion annually.

Oil and gas producers suffer 32 hours of unplanned downtime each month, on average, at the cost of $220,000 per hour, amounting to $84 million per facility.

One of the big challenges manufacturers face is managing data, sorting the valuable wheat from the white noise of chaff, and using it to effect improvements.

Senseye can help clients and customers implement effective strategies and manage them to get unplanned machine downtime under control.

Check Out Previous Episodes of All Systems Go Here!

Follow us on social media for the latest updates in B2B!

Twitter – @MarketScale

Facebook – facebook.com/marketscale

LinkedIn – linkedin.com/company/marketscale

Your experts belong here

Every story in MarketScale Engineering & Construction starts with a company putting its project engineers, superintendents, and estimators on the record. Buyers are already reading this topic. The only question is whose experts they find.

Owners shortlist firms they already trust, and your field leaders become the reason your name is on that list.

Get your team featuredSee how it works15 minutes, straight to a calendar.
B2B Weekly

The week in Engineering & Construction, and sixteen other industries, every Monday.

Ten stories, one-line takes, five minutes. Free.

Engineering & Construction: are you visible to AI?

Before they reach out, Engineering & Construction buyers ask AI engines which vendors to trust. Explore how your experts, customers, and partners can become useful content for buyers and AI search.

Free plan

You just read one Engineering & Construction expert. Your company is full of them.

This article was produced through MarketScale. The same platform turns your project engineers, superintendents, and estimators into the articles, video, and social content Engineering & Construction buyers are searching for. Create a free workspace and see it with your own people. No credit card, no demo required.

NPS +73 · 1,000+ creators · 38+ countries

What you get, free

Your own MarketScale workspace, up to 10 people
One professional video edit a month for qualifying companies
Media requests to your crowd, remote recording, AI writing tools
$0, no credit card, nothing that expires

More Engineering & Construction Insights

Packaging robots can beat labor long term on cost, PMMI argues

Packaging robots can beat labor long term on cost, PMMI argues

PMMI's Tom Egan wrote in Processing Magazine that adding packaging automation and robotics can now be justified as more cost-effective over the long term than the high cost of labor in food, beverage and CPG plants. Separately, Packaging World describes AI-enabled AMRs from ABB and Agilox that automate material movement between packaging stations. The remaining gap is adoption among smaller manufacturers.

  • 01Two reference points for infrastructure-light material movement: ABB's Flexley Mover P603 carries 1,500 kg with sub-centimeter positioning and no floor markers, and Agilox's OFL lifts 800 kg pallets on peer-to-peer fleet software with no central traffic controller, per Packaging World.
  • 02The open ground is small and mid-sized manufacturers: MTC's Mike Wilson counts tens of thousands of UK SMEs with no robotic automation at all and expects cobots to take most of that growth.
  • 03A robotics business case should include procurement, not only line labor: a June 2026 China Journal of Accounting Research study found heavy robot adopters spread buying across more suppliers, gaining resilience but losing inventory efficiency and adding transaction costs.

Sep 18, 2026

Xtellio brings telematics to jobsite tools and heaters

Xtellio brings telematics to jobsite tools and heaters

Xtellio launched a two-tier telematics platform in March 2026: 32 battery-powered Xense sensors for small tools and wired Pro-Xentral devices for excavators, light towers and heaters. The company claims a 10-year battery life. Data is delivered through open APIs, which Xtellio frames as customer ownership of the data, aimed at rental and construction fleets where small assets have gone largely untracked.

  • 01Xtellio’s stated 10-year battery life for its Bluetooth Xense sensors is the key spec to test in the field; if it holds up, tagging hundreds of tools can look like a one-time install rather than a recurring battery-maintenance program.
  • 02For rental houses and contractors running mixed fleets, the sharper question is no longer which machines have telematics but whether the heaters, light towers and hand tools do, and whether that data lands in the same system.
  • 03Open APIs and “data liberation” are part of Xtellio’s pitch, and the coverage frames that as a prompt for RFP questions: what the APIs expose, where data can be sent, and whether customers can take historical data if they switch providers.

Sep 18, 2026

Senate bill would double smart water grants to $50 million a year

Senate bill would double smart water grants to $50 million a year

S. 2388, the Water Infrastructure Modernization Act of 2025, would double an EPA water tech pilot to $50 million a year through 2028. Grants would cover design, construction, training and operations for leak detection, advanced metering and AI analytics, WaterWorld reported. Planning and maintenance stay on the utility's tab.

  • 01Under S. 2388 as WaterWorld describes it, feasibility studies are not grant-eligible, so a utility would have to pay to build the case for a smart water project before applying for help building the project itself.
  • 02The bill's eligible list puts advanced digital design and construction management tools in the same bucket as meters and sensors, which would give a utility's capital delivery team a claim on the same grant as its field operations group.
  • 03The existing pilot program's authorization runs through 2026, per WaterWorld; the bill would extend it to 2028, and its last reported status was 'introduced' as of Aug. 12, 2025.

Sep 17, 2026

Explore More Engineering & Construction Insights

Read more expert perspectives from across Engineering & Construction.

Browse Engineering & Construction Hub

For B2B teams

Your experts could be publishing here

Stories like this one run on content MarketScale captures from real practitioners. See how your team's expertise becomes coverage in Engineering & Construction and beyond.

Book a 15-minute demo

Or call us. No forms required. We pick up. 214-945-2512