A recent study by IDS‑INDATA – The Real Cost of Downtime in Manufacturing: Sector‑by‑Sector Breakdown and 2025 Forecasting – highlighted that the cost of unplanned downtime for UK and European manufacturers is likely to be over £80 billion in 2025. That’s a staggering figure and a clear call to action. Survey data suggests that over 80% of industrial businesses experienced some unplanned downtime in the last three years, with an average duration of four hours. In the UK on average, every company loses 49 hours of productivity every year.
Key drivers behind this crisis include:
- Ageing machinery and legacy systems
- Cyber vulnerabilities within interconnected Operational Technology (OT)
- Supply chain instability and energy price volatility
- Seasonal demand placing extra stress on equipment
These factors aren’t unique to specific sectors—they impact all manufacturing, especially in energy- and heat-intensive industries.
The IDS‑INDATA’s data shows:
- Heavy Equipment: Extended restart times and long shutdowns are estimated to cost £50–60 billion across the EU
- Automotive: A forecast 20–25 breakdowns monthly, each costing £1.6–2 million per hour—totalling £10–12 billion in 2025
- Food manufacturers: typically disruptions are shorter, but more frequent meaning total losses across the sector are still forecast to be £4-5 billion
- Pharmaceuticals: a single major incident can cost £5-£10 million
Downtime isn’t just numbers on a page – it means lost productivity and revenue; emergency repair costs; delay to key projects and in the long run, damaged reputation and client trust. In some operations, just one hour of breakdown can cost millions of pounds in lost output, create supply chain bottlenecks and even compliance issues.
The report strongly recommends shifting towards Predictive Maintenance. By collecting real-time data from equipment, manufacturers can anticipate issues before they happen – transforming unexpected stoppages into planned maintenance windows
At Fairburn Heating Solutions, we recommend Predictive Maintenance to all our clients, as part of our Asset Management Journey which reduces breakdowns and grows productivity.
Contact us today on 01886 358025 to discuss how we can ensure uninterrupted manufacturing success.