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Mechanical Engineering vocabulary · Maintenance and Reliability

Downtime

Meaning in mechanical engineering, with examples

/ˈdaʊntaɪm/nounCore term

In mechanical engineering, downtime means: The time when a machine or production line is not working because of a breakdown, maintenance, a changeover or a lack of material.

In Turkish: duruş süresi, makine duruşu, plansız duruş

How it is used

Used in maintenance, production and management reports. Downtime is planned or unplanned; teams track and reduce it, often in hours per month or as part of OEE. Managers want to know how much downtime a repair will cause.

Example sentences

  1. Unplanned downtime on line 2 was 14 hours last month, mostly because of the hydraulic press.

  2. We'll replace the gearbox during the weekend shutdown to avoid extra downtime.

Common collocations

  • unplanned downtime
  • planned downtime
  • reduce downtime
  • minimize downtime
  • machine downtime
  • break downTo stop working because of a fault. It is used for machines and vehicles; the noun breakdown means a failure that stops the equipment.
  • preventive maintenanceMaintenance done at planned intervals, such as lubricating, inspecting and replacing worn parts, to stop equipment from breaking down unexpectedly.
  • MTBFShort for mean time between failures: the average operating time between one failure of a repairable machine and the next. A higher MTBF means more reliable equipment.
  • spare partA replacement part kept in stock so that a worn or broken part can be changed quickly, for example a bearing, seal, belt or motor.
  • condition monitoringRegularly measuring signs of a machine's health, such as vibration, temperature or oil quality, to spot problems early and plan repairs before a breakdown.

This word in other fields

The same English word can have a different meaning in another field:

More terms: Maintenance and Reliability

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