Question

Downtime of an equipment is
1. the time when equipment shall have to be returned to the owner due to expiry of its lease period
2. the period of time when equipment is idle for want of work
3. the period of time that the equipment fails to provide or perform its primary function
4. the time when contractor has to do the down payment before taking equipment on rent

Answer 1

Correct Answer - Option 3 : the period of time that the equipment fails to provide or perform its primary function

Explanation:

(i) Equipment downtime refers to the amount of time that equipment is not operating, whether that’s a result of unplanned equipment failure (like a fault or broken part) or planned downtime (like necessary downtime for preventive maintenance).

(ii) Typically, this term refers to unexpected downtime that accumulates any time the production process stops.

(iii) Unexpected equipment failures can cause costly interruptions in your process flow, damage to equipment and product losses. Downtime may also divert personnel from their preventive maintenance (PM) duties. These consequences may result in expensive overtime hours and reduced PM completion rates. In extreme cases, this can eventually lead to a chaotic "run-to-fail" cycle.

(iv) The best way to track equipment downtime is with a computerized maintenance management system (CMMS). Although many of these programs use a work order system to track downtime, a CMMS with a dedicated downtime module can result in better analysis and reporting of equipment problems and trends.