I am looking for information on the causes of unplanned industrial facility
downtime.  (Industrial facilities refer to chemical plants, automotive assembly
facilities, power plants, steel palnts, etc.)  I need information that
is relatively specific, eg. motor failures, power quality incidents,
operator error etc.  If this information is available by industry
segment like telecommunications, chemical processing, etc. it would be
ideal, although general industrial information would be acceptable. 
Information is preferred from a credible source.
 
The best answer I'm looking for should show causes (Top 10 or so) with
percentage of total downtime for each so that I can quantify the
impact of each cause of downtime. (e.g. Power Interruption ~ 10% of
unplanned downtime; Operator Error ~ 15% of unplanned downtime, etc.)

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Request for Question Clarification by pafalafa-ga on 11 Jan 2005 17:13 PST

In researching your question, I came across a paper that might be of
interest.  It has a lot of metrics, but their mostly based on
hypotheticals rather than the sort of real-world data you're looking
for.

Still...I wanted to at least bring it to your attention:


http://www.smartsignal.com/upload/whitepaper/Hidden_Cost.pdf
The Hidden Cost of Downtime:
Strategies for Improving Return on Assets


I'll let you know if anything else turns up...


pafalafa-ga

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Clarification of Question by divankovich2003-ga on 12 Jan 2005 08:12 PST

The real key to answering my question is to focus on "unplanned"
downtime.  I agree with you regarding facilities that are not
operating 24/7 but I'm more interested in things that cause unforseen
problems.

Thanks,

Dominic

For plants that do not operate 24/7, my guess is shutting down at the
end of the shift, or perhaps restarting is the biggest down time item.
Even where one of the three shifts is partially manned, shut down and
start up are large items due to shut down of some items. In 2002
California, frequent loss of electrical power was a big item, but my
guess is power outage is typically 4 th or 5 th on the list for
typical facilities. In 1999, preparations to avoid y2k computer
glitches caused more down time than the uncorrected glithes. Often
there are multiple causes, some the result of contingency plans that
were not followed, and the stats very widely from one plant to another
even the same owners and same products, partly because reporting
criteria are variable. Weather, fires, strikes, late delivery of
supplies and restraining orders/legal are big items some years and
some plants.   Neil

The real key to answering my question is to focus on "unplanned"
downtime.  I agree with you regarding facilities that are not
operating 24/7 but I'm more interested in things that cause unforseen
problems.

Thanks,

Dominic

Divankovich2003 --

A Carolina consulting firm called Charles Brooks Associates
specializes in this area.  You may find the following page with
articles & a Powerpoint presentation worthwhile.  And you may find it
worthwhile to pick up the phone and talk with them:
http://www.charlesbrooks.com/CBANewsMain.html

Best regards,

Omnivorous-GA