This measure is also often referred to as reliability or failure rates of equipment. It is a good accompaniment to other measures of equipment effectiveness. For example, availability may be high while the MTBF is low. Alternatively, utilization of the equipment may be high while the MTBF is low. Therefore, MTBF adds the perspective of continuous performance within the available time for operations.

It can be further balanced by viewing it alongside production per hour. Failures requiring maintenance interventions disrupt operational processes. They cause periods of ramp-down and ramp-up and can also affect the allocation of operational resources.

Benefits- This indicator gives an immediate indication of the level of reliability that can be expected from a piece of equipment. It can also be applied at an event level.

Limitations- If an organization does not consider failures that could develop into safety or environmental incidents, then this figure will not be a good indicator of the overall failure rate of the equipment. However, it remains a good measure of the continual performance of the primary function of the equipment.

Producing this Measure- This measure requires the ability to separate breakdown interventions from all other maintenance activities.

By measuring the time between programmed maintenance interventions, corporations are attempting to lengthen the intervals. This indicator is included as it is one that is in regular use throughout the industry. However, definitions of it change substantially from company to...