Maintenance & Reliability worked example

Downtime Cost per Hour with downtime hours basis of 0.5 hr: a worked example

This worked example runs the downtime cost per hour numbers for a tougher week than the baseline: downtime hours basis of 0.5 hr instead of the typical 1 hr. Calculate the hourly cost of unplanned downtime from lost production, labor waste, scrap, and continuing overhead.

The inputs for this scenario

  • Downtime hours basis: 0.5 hr (the input this scenario stresses; the baseline uses 1)
  • Lost production revenue per hour: 8,500 $ / hr (held at the documented default)
  • Direct labor waste per hour: 900 $ / hr (held at the documented default)
  • Scrap, restart, and fixed overhead per hour: 1,800 $ / hr (held at the documented default)

Working through the calculation

  • The calculation starts from the formula this tool documents: Downtime cost per hour = downtime hours basis × lost production revenue per hour + direct labor waste per hour + scrap, restart, and fixed overhead per hour.
  • Downtime Cost per Hour works out to 6,950 $ / hr at these inputs, and this is the headline figure for the scenario.
  • Cost per Downtime Hour Basis works out to 13,900 $ / hr at these inputs.
  • Lost Production Component works out to 4,250 $ / hr at these inputs.
  • Labor, Scrap, and Overhead works out to 2,700 $ / hr at these inputs.

How this compares with the baseline

  • Against the tool's baseline example, where downtime hours basis sits at 1 hr and the headline result is 11,200 $ / hr, this scenario comes in 37.95% below the baseline at 6,950 $ / hr.
  • Use it on a one-hour basis to get a clean hourly loss figure for reliability decisions, or scale the basis to cost a known outage length. A result at this level usually justifies acting on the stressed input before touching anything else, because every other figure in the table is downstream of it.

Results at a glance

  • Downtime Cost per Hour: 6,950 $ / hr (headline result)
  • Cost per Downtime Hour Basis: 13,900 $ / hr
  • Lost Production Component: 4,250 $ / hr
  • Labor, Scrap, and Overhead: 2,700 $ / hr

Run it with your numbers

  • To rerun this with your own numbers, open the live Downtime Cost per Hour calculator, set downtime hours basis to your actual value, and adjust the remaining inputs to match your operation.

Last reviewed 2026-05-12.