Calculator · CMMS

The cost of breakdowns vs. preventive maintenance

Every unplanned breakdown adds two costs: the repair and the hours the equipment sits idle. Calculate what they cost you a year and how much that changes with a preventive maintenance plan you set yourself.

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Today: unplanned breakdowns

Unplanned breakdowns a year

The ones that stop equipment or a service without warning. Count them in last year’s corrective work orders.

Downtime hours per breakdown

From the moment the equipment fails until it works again, including the wait for the technician and the spare part.

Cost of one hour of downtime

What you stop producing or invoicing, idle staff and contract penalties.

Repair cost per breakdown

Technician hours, spare parts, travel and the emergency surcharge.

With preventive maintenance planned in attendo

Breakdowns you avoid with preventive maintenance

How many of the breakdowns would have been caught earlier in an inspection.

Less downtime on the breakdowns that remain

If the technician arrives with the equipment history and the right spare part, the job can take less time. Leave it at 0 if you are not sure.

New preventive inspections a year

Only the ones you would add. If you already do preventive maintenance, do not count the inspections you already do.

Cost of each inspection

Technician hours, travel and consumables.

Result

With the sample values

€10,080 less per year with the preventive plan

43.2 h less downtime a year

Breakdown cost today: €57,600 a year€2,400 per breakdown
Cost with preventive maintenance: €47,520 a year€40,320 in breakdowns + €7,200 for the plan
Downtime hours per year: 144 h → 100.8 h24 → 16.8 breakdowns a year
The plan pays off from: Avoiding 12.5% of breakdowns

Cost per year

Today €57,600

With attendo €47,520 €40,320 €7,200

Breakdowns: downtime and repair
Preventive plan

This is an estimate based on your numbers and the assumptions we explain below. It is not an offer or a promise of results.

Shall we email you this calculation?

With your numbers, the result, the assumptions and the link to open it again.

How we calculate

The whole calculation, in plain sight

It is an estimate based on your numbers. These are the formulas with the calculator’s numbers: they change with what you enter above.

The math, step by step

Each line shows what we calculate, with which formula and with which numbers.

Cost of one breakdown

downtime hours × cost per downtime hour + repair

6 × €250 + €900 equals €2,400
Breakdown cost per year, today

breakdowns a year × cost of one breakdown

24 × €2,400 equals €57,600
Breakdowns left with preventive maintenance

breakdowns a year × (1 − breakdowns you avoid)

24 × (1 − 30%) equals 16.8
Cost of each remaining breakdown

downtime hours × (1 − downtime reduction) × cost per hour + repair

6 × (1 − 0%) × €250 + €900 equals €2,400
Cost of the preventive plan

new inspections a year × cost per inspection

48 × €150 equals €7,200
Cost per year with preventive maintenance

remaining breakdowns × their cost + plan cost

16.8 × €2,400 + €7,200 equals €47,520
Difference per year

cost today − cost with preventive maintenance

€57,600 − €47,520 equals €10,080
Break-even point

1 − (cost today − plan cost) ÷ (breakdowns a year × cost of each remaining breakdown)

1 − (€57,600 − €7,200) ÷ (24 × €2,400) equals 12.5%

Assumptions

Every breakdown costs the same: downtime hours times the hourly cost, plus the repair. It is an average: some cost much more than others.
The preventive plan adds its own cost: inspections a year times the cost of each one.
The breakdowns you avoid disappear. The ones that remain cost the same, unless you enter less downtime.
Only new inspections count. What you already do today is not included on either side.

What we leave out

We leave it out so we do not inflate the result.

Equipment service life and energy consumption.
Overtime to make up for lost production, if you have not added it to the cost of an hour of downtime.
The customer who leaves after a serious breakdown. It matters, but we cannot measure it with four numbers.

Sample values and why

They are not industry averages or figures from a study: they are a starting point so you do not start from a blank page.

Unplanned breakdowns a year: 24Two a month: a moderate volume for a small fleet of equipment.
Downtime hours per breakdown: 6 hMost of a working day, counting the wait.
Cost of one hour of downtime: €250This is the number that varies most from one company to another. If you do not have it, start with what you stop invoicing in an hour.
Repair cost per breakdown: €900A repair with a spare part and an emergency call-out.
Breakdowns you avoid with preventive maintenance: 30%Cautious: not everything can be prevented. There are random failures, impacts and misuse.
Less downtime on the breakdowns that remain: 0%At 0, so it does not count unless you see it.
New preventive inspections a year: 48Four a month.
Cost of each inspection: €150A 90-minute inspection with travel and some materials.

With attendo

Where the improvement comes from

The “with attendo” scenario is not magic: it comes from these features. You set the percentage.

The plan does not slip

attendo generates preventive work orders on your business calendar and flags overdue plans.

The anomaly before the breakdown

When an inspection finds an anomaly, it becomes a planned corrective job.

The history, in the QR code

The technician opens the equipment record before starting: what was done last time and which spare part to bring.

The cost of each piece of equipment

Hours, spare parts and travel add up on each asset. You know which equipment deserves a plan and which does not.

See attendo CMMS

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Return

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The office hours spent retyping service reports and the money waiting to be invoiced in the meantime.

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Frequently asked questions

Why does preventive maintenance avoid only 30% of breakdowns?

It is a cautious starting value, not a figure from a study. Some breakdowns no inspection will catch: random failures, impacts or misuse. Change the percentage to what you see in your own history.

What goes into the cost of an hour of downtime?

Everything you lose while the equipment is not working: production or service not delivered, idle staff, contract penalties and overtime to catch up. If you maintain your customers’ equipment, think mainly about the penalty and the emergency call-out.

What if preventive maintenance costs me more?

It can happen, and the calculator tells you. It happens, for example, when you inspect equipment that is cheap to repair and rarely stops. That is why we show you the percentage of avoided breakdowns at which the plan pays off: use it to decide which equipment gets preventive maintenance.

Where do I get these numbers?

The number of breakdowns and the downtime hours come from last year’s corrective work orders. In attendo CMMS, the reliability report gives you the breakdowns, MTBF and MTTR for each piece of equipment.

Do you store the data I enter?

Not unless you ask us to email you the calculation. The calculation runs in your browser. The values stay in the page address so you can share the result: they only travel with the link if you share it. If you ask for the calculation by email, we keep your email address with the values and the result to send it to you, as the privacy policy explains.

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