Research · Updated October 2026
Maintenance & CMMS Statistics 2026: Downtime, Costs, Adoption and Workforce Data
Unplanned downtime now costs the world’s largest companies an estimated $1.4 trillion a year, yet many maintenance teams still track work on spreadsheets and paper. We pulled together the most useful maintenance and CMMS statistics from Siemens, ABB, NIST, the U.S. Department of Energy, Plant Engineering, Deloitte and others, checked every number against its original source, and organized them so you can find and cite them quickly.
Every statistic links to its original source.
In this report
1. Cost of Unplanned Downtime Statistics
- The world’s 500 biggest companies lose an estimated $1.4 trillion a year to unplanned downtime, equal to 11% of their revenues. (Siemens, 2024)[1]
- In automotive manufacturing, an hour of downtime at a large plant costs $2.3 million, more than $600 a second, and twice what it cost in 2019. (Siemens, 2024)[1]
- In heavy industry, an hour of downtime now costs four times as much as it did in 2019. (Siemens, 2024)[1]
- In fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG), a lost hour costs about $36,000. (Siemens, 2024)[1]
- An average large plant loses 27 hours a month to unplanned downtime, down from 39 hours in 2019. (Siemens, 2024)[1]
- Large plants average 25 downtime incidents per month, down from 42 in 2019. (Siemens, 2024)[1]
- When downtime hits, it now takes an average of 81 minutes to restore production, up from 49 minutes in 2019. (Siemens, 2024)[1]
- Unplanned outages cost the typical industrial business close to $125,000 per hour (median, self-reported, 3,215 plant maintenance decision-makers). (ABB, 2023)[2]
- More than two-thirds of industrial businesses experience unplanned outages at least once a month. (ABB, 2023)[2]
- U.S. manufacturers lost an estimated $119.1 billion to preventable maintenance issues in 2016. (NIST, 2020; 2016 data)[3]
- U.S. manufacturers spent an estimated $57.3 billion on machinery maintenance in 2016. (NIST, 2020; 2016 data)[3]
Cost of one hour of unplanned downtime (2023 data)
Selected estimates by industry and survey
Sources: Siemens, The True Cost of Downtime 2024 (automotive, FMCG); ABB survey, 2023 (industrial median).
Related guides: CMMS Benefits: The Quantified Business Case · 5 Ways a CMMS Delivers ROI in Manufacturing
2. Reactive vs. Preventive Maintenance Cost Statistics
- A preventive maintenance program can save an estimated 12% to 18% on average compared with reactive maintenance. (U.S. DOE, 2010)[4]
- Emergency repairs can cost three to more than ten times as much as planned maintenance. (Univ. of Tennessee RMC, 2020)[5]
- U.S. manufacturers that rely most on reactive maintenance had 3.3 times more downtime and 16 times more defects than those that rely on it least. (NIST, 2020; 2016 data)[3]
- 21% of industrial businesses still rely on run-to-fail maintenance. (ABB, 2023)[2]
- 60% of facilities still use run-to-failure as one of their maintenance strategies, alongside 76% using preventive maintenance. (Plant Engineering, 2020)[6]
Annual maintenance cost by program type
U.S. dollars per horsepower per year (2001 pump case study cited in the DOE O&M Best Practices Guide, 2010)
Source: U.S. Department of Energy, FEMP, O&M Best Practices Guide, Release 3.0, Chapter 5 (citing Piotrowski 2001).
A note on a widely repeated stat: you will often see “reactive maintenance costs 3 to 5 times more than preventive maintenance” credited to the Department of Energy. We could not find that figure in the DOE guide. The DOE’s own estimate is the 12% to 18% savings above. For a “times more” comparison, the University of Tennessee’s Reliability and Maintainability Center figure (3 to 10+ times for emergency repairs) has a clear source.
Related guides: Preventive maintenance guide · Preventive Maintenance Software: A Practical Buyer’s Guide · Reactive Maintenance: What It Is and When to Apply It
3. Predictive Maintenance Statistics
The U.S. Department of Energy’s O&M Best Practices Guide summarizes independent surveys of industrial average savings from a functioning predictive maintenance program: (U.S. DOE, 2010)[4]
| Benefit of predictive maintenance | Industrial average |
|---|---|
| Return on investment | 10 times |
| Reduction in maintenance costs | 25% to 30% |
| Elimination of breakdowns | 70% to 75% |
| Reduction in downtime | 35% to 45% |
| Increase in production | 20% to 25% |
| Savings over preventive maintenance alone | 8% to 12% |
- Among U.S. manufacturers with less than 50% reactive maintenance, those that relied most on predictive maintenance had 15% less downtime and an 87% lower defect rate. (NIST, 2020; 2016 data)[3]
- 41% of facilities use predictive maintenance with analytical tools. (Plant Engineering, 2020)[6]
The DOE figures date from the guide’s 2010 release and the surveys it cites. They remain the most widely referenced public benchmarks, but treat them as industry averages, not guarantees.
Related guides: Predictive Maintenance Software (PdM) for CMMS
4. CMMS Adoption Statistics: How Maintenance Teams Track Work
- Only 50% of facilities use a CMMS to track maintenance. 47% use in-house spreadsheets and schedules, and 46% use clipboards or paper records (respondents could choose more than one). (Plant Engineering, 2020)[6]
- 52% of facilities list a CMMS as part of their maintenance strategy. (Plant Engineering, 2020)[6]
- Across Plant Engineering’s maintenance studies from 2016 to 2020, CMMS use ranged from roughly 50% to 62%, while spreadsheet use stayed between roughly 45% and 55%. (Plant Engineering, 2016–2020)[7]
How facilities track maintenance (2020)
Share of facilities using each method (multiple answers allowed)
Source: Plant Engineering / CFE Media, Industrial Maintenance Report, March 2020.
Related guides: Spreadsheets vs. CMMS · 8 Signs Your Maintenance Team Has Outgrown Spreadsheets · 10 Maintenance Problems Spreadsheets Can’t Solve
5. Causes of Unplanned Downtime
When facilities were asked in 2020 about the leading cause of unscheduled downtime: (Plant Engineering, 2020)[6]
Source: Plant Engineering / CFE Media, Industrial Maintenance Report, March 2020.
Related guides: Maintenance KPIs and metrics guide
6. Maintenance and Manufacturing Workforce Statistics
- U.S. manufacturing could need as many as 3.8 million additional workers between 2024 and 2033. (Manufacturing Institute & Deloitte, 2024)[8]
- As many as 1.9 million of those jobs could go unfilled. (Manufacturing Institute & Deloitte, 2024)[8]
- 65% of manufacturers named attracting and retaining talent as their primary business challenge. (Manufacturing Institute & Deloitte, 2024)[8]
- Lack of resources or staff is the top challenge to improving maintenance, cited by 41% of facilities. (Plant Engineering, 2020)[6]
- 41% of facilities that outsource maintenance do so because of a lack of skills among current staff. (Plant Engineering, 2020)[6]
8. eWorkOrders Customer Case Studies
These figures come from eWorkOrders’ own published case studies with named customers. They are customer-reported results for individual organizations, not industry averages, and are listed separately from the independent research above for transparency.
Sources and Methodology
We collected statistics from industry surveys, government research and market reports, and checked each figure against its original publication. Where a source reports a median, a range or a self-reported figure, we say so. We excluded statistics we could not trace to an original source, and figures published by competing CMMS vendors. The only vendor figures included are eWorkOrders’ own customer case studies, which are labeled separately.
Dates matter. Each statistic is labeled with its source and year. Some benchmarks are older: the DOE figures come from the 2010 edition of its O&M Best Practices Guide, which cites earlier studies, and the NIST figures are based on 2016 survey data. They remain widely used reference points, but newer research may differ. Plant Engineering has published different figures for its 2020 study in different articles (for example, 76% vs. 88% of facilities using preventive maintenance); this page uses the March 2020 report linked below.
Accuracy and updates. We check every figure against its original source, but sources can be revised, moved or taken down, and errors can happen. This page is provided for general informational purposes. eWorkOrders does not warrant that every figure is complete or suitable for a particular decision. Always confirm a figure with the original source before relying on it for business, financial or safety decisions. The original publishers own their research; eWorkOrders is not affiliated with them and they do not endorse this page. Spot an error or a broken link? Email marketing@eworkorders.com and we will review it and correct the page.
Copyright notice: © 2026 eWorkOrders. All rights reserved to the extent provided by applicable law. This notice does not claim ownership of facts or third-party research. Original page text, custom charts and graphics, and the protectable selection and arrangement of this compilation may not be reproduced in substantial part without permission, except as permitted by law.
- Siemens, The True Cost of Downtime 2024. PDF
- ABB, “ABB survey reveals unplanned downtime costs $125,000 per hour,” October 11, 2023 (Sapio Research survey of 3,215 plant maintenance decision-makers, July 2023). Link
- Thomas, D. and Weiss, B., Economics of Manufacturing Machinery Maintenance: A Survey and Analysis of U.S. Costs and Benefits, NIST Advanced Manufacturing Series 100-34, 2020. PDF
- U.S. Department of Energy, Federal Energy Management Program, Operations & Maintenance Best Practices: A Guide to Achieving Operational Efficiency, Release 3.0, Chapter 5, “Types of Maintenance Programs.” PDF
- Blache, K., “Twenty Reasons to Stop Firefighting,” University of Tennessee Reliability and Maintainability Center, April 7, 2020. Link
- CFE Media and Technology / Plant Engineering, Industrial Maintenance Report, March 2020 (sponsored by Advanced Technology Services). PDF
- Plant Engineering Maintenance Studies, 2016–2020, as compiled by Reliability Magazine, “CMMS Adoption Statistics: What Plant Surveys Actually Show.” Link
- The Manufacturing Institute and Deloitte, “Manufacturers Need as Many as 3.8 Million New Employees by 2033,” April 3, 2024. Link
- Grand View Research, Computerized Maintenance Management System Market Report. Link
Frequently Asked Questions
How much does unplanned downtime cost?
It depends on the industry. Siemens estimates the world’s 500 biggest companies lose about $1.4 trillion a year to unplanned downtime, and that an hour of downtime at a large automotive plant costs $2.3 million. ABB’s 2023 survey puts the typical cost for industrial businesses at about $125,000 per hour.
How much can preventive maintenance save?
The U.S. Department of Energy estimates that preventive maintenance saves 12% to 18% on average compared with reactive maintenance, and that predictive maintenance can save another 8% to 12% over preventive maintenance alone.
What percentage of companies use a CMMS?
In Plant Engineering’s 2020 maintenance study, 50% of facilities used a CMMS to track maintenance, while 47% used spreadsheets and 46% used paper records. Across its 2016 to 2020 studies, CMMS use ranged from roughly 50% to 62%.
What is the leading cause of unplanned downtime?
Aging equipment, cited by 34% of facilities in Plant Engineering’s 2020 study, followed by mechanical failure (20%) and operator error (11%).
How big is the CMMS market?
Grand View Research valued the global CMMS market at $1.3 billion in 2024 and projects it will reach $2.4 billion by 2030, a compound annual growth rate of 11.1%.
About eWorkOrders
eWorkOrders is a cloud-based CMMS that helps maintenance teams move off spreadsheets and paper, schedule preventive maintenance, and track work orders, assets and parts in one place. Curious what a CMMS could save your team? Our free ROI calculator gives a quick, conservative estimate based on your staff, downtime and maintenance costs.
About the author: Jeff Roscher is the Founder & CEO of eWorkOrders, an award-winning CMMS platform recognized by G2, Capterra and Software Advice. With decades of experience in maintenance management software, he writes to help teams reduce downtime, manage assets and scale operations confidently.
