Manufacturing industry, worldwide and in the Mena region, is making substantial investments into the sector, which in turn is promoting IT growth as more companies invest in ERP solutions and specialised applications.

Consequently, manufacturers are becoming increasingly reliant on technology, benefiting by adopting new technologies like the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) technologies. They gain better intelligence, more informed decision-making, increased productivity, improved asset management, and more.

But as with most things, those rewards come with some challenges. And while Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) adoption has improved productivity in many manufacturing environments, it also increases the risk of downtime, says Gaurav Mohan, VP Sales, SAARC & Middle East, Netscout.

Mohan: downtime affects all manufacturers

“Downtime affects all manufacturers, typically in the range of 5 to 20 per cent. Downtime can affect an entire factory, or just a portion of the assembly line or a piece of manufacturing equipment,” Mohan tells Gulf Industry in an exclusive interview.

From an information technology (IT) perspective, planned outages, maintenance, upgrades, and updates account for some productivity disruptions. It is the unplanned IT-related outages that present the real challenges to an organisation.

What are the factors which play into the impact of unplanned outages? What are the costs of manufacturing downtime? What is the impact of unplanned downtime? And how Netscout can help enterprises minimise the impact of IT disruptions – these are the issues Mohan delves into as he talks about the real effects of IT downtime and how to assure their avoidance.

If the manufacturing industry is increasingly investing in technology, upgrading facilities with ERP solutions and specialised applications, what is then the main cause of downtime in manufacturing?

The manufacturing industry is investing highly in future technology to streamline operations. Dubai has put in place a “2030 Dubai Industrial Strategy”, which includes emphasis on technological solutions. However, this does not mean that their systems are immune to error. Downtime affects all manufacturers, and it usually ranges from 5 per cent to 20 per cent. Such downtime can disrupt an entire factory, a section of the assembly line, or a single piece of manufacturing equipment.

There are multiple situations in which a manufacturer’s facilities can face downtime, such as accidents, unavailable parts, poor planning and analysis, and human error. However, with today’s digitally driven environment, the leading causes for downtime are poor performing production applications on-site and a lack of visibility into their remote plant data centers for performance assurance.

Unplanned IT-related outages present the real challenges to an organisation

Increased reliance on technology opens the door to increased downtime due to the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) adoption. Does this imply that it is a double edged sword: a high risk, high reward endeavour? Please explain.

While introducing the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) has increased efficiency in many production contexts, it has also increased the danger of downtime. Planned outages, maintenance, upgrades, and updates account for some productivity disruptions in the world of information technology (IT). The most significant issues for a corporation come from unforeseen IT-related failures.

For some, IIoT can be seen as a high-risk, high-reward endeavour. However, when paired with the right solutions to increase visibility and improve analysis components within manufacturing environments, the risk reduces while the rewards increase significantly.

You have mentioned that an hour of manufacturing downtime can result in an average of $300,000 in losses. What are the costs of manufacturing downtime? What is the estimated impact of downtime in manufacturing in terms of cost/ lost productivity/ revenues? Can you cite any statistics, particularly in the Middle East region?

According to a well-cited Aberdeen research, 82 per cent of respondents said they had dealt with unplanned downtime in the prior three years of the study. The higher the negative financial impact for enterprises, the more frequent the outages are and the longer it takes to fix and restore operations.

Manufacturing downtime has a monetary cost that ranges from hundreds of dollars per hour to thousands of dollars per minute, depending on the previously mentioned factors. For example, the food and beverage industry loses up to $30,000 per hour, while the pharmaceutical industry’s losses range between $100,000 and $500,000 per hour of downtime.

The UAE, alongside the entirety of the Gulf region, is investing heavily in the manufacturing industry to boost the local economy. The effects of manufacturing downtime can therefore lead to delays in return on investment, thus affect the region’s economy.

IT downtime causes significant financial losses

What are the real effects of IT downtime and how can manufacturing companies avoid downtime?

IT downtime causes significant financial losses, yet this can also lead to the disruption of supply chains, regulatory compliance issues, quality reduction, decrease in customer satisfaction, shortages in products, and thus resulting in damage to the manufacturing companies’ reputations.

The cost and impact on overall employee and plant productivity are reduced by lowering the frequency of outages, decreasing the length of disruptions, and expediting the restoration of production post-incident. This can be achieved by expanding data center visibility to global factories and accelerating problem resolution time, thus minimising the impact of IT disruptions across the enterprise.

What are the factors which play into the impact of unplanned outages?

The real cost of manufacturing downtime cannot be defined by an average, as the impact is dependent on multiple factors. Those factors include the frequency of incidents, the length of the disruptions, the breadth of the degradations, the type of manufacturing the plant is involved in, and the type of industry it is operating within.

Depending on the nature of each of these factors, the cost and impact of unplanned outages differs.

How can Netscout help enterprises minimise the impact of IT disruptions?

Manufacturers use digital transformation to improve production efficiencies, product quality, and service delivery. The task at hand is to integrate application services throughout the entire process, from design and production to sales, shipping, and payment. MES, SCADA, CAD/CAM, ERP, CRM, UC&C, Office Applications, and more are all supported by NETSCOUT systems, which can be accessed from anywhere, at any time, and on any device.

As Netscout specialises in service assurance and business continuity, the nGeniusONE platform provides multipurpose, consistent, real-time visibility for any service, any platform, and at any time. It allows manufacturers to maintain the effectiveness and efficiency of the whole organization, from the production floor to business enablement.