5 Mistakes Costing You Millions in Unplanned Downtime

Welcome to The Reliable Edge

We guide leaders in transforming maintenance into a competitive edge—one proven idea at a time.

This week, we explore the hidden habits and blind spots that quietly cost plants millions in preventable downtime.

Field Insight: “We Thought It Was Normal”

Let me share a real incident from a manufacturing plant.

A processing line went down unexpectedly during a high-volume production run. The culprit? A hydraulic pump that seized, halting operations for nearly 14 hours.

But it wasn’t a sudden failure. It was a slow, steady drop in oil level that had been happening for weeks.

Operators had noticed the oil decreasing and the pump sounding louder. They topped it off during their rounds, assuming it was just normal wear. No one flagged it. No one asked why.

The root cause? A worn seal that slowly leaked oil into the system. Over time, it caused cavitation, and eventually—complete pump failure.

The Failures Were Never Sudden

The signs were there all along. They just became part of the background—until it was too late.

Can you relate? Have you ever had a failure and thought afterward, “We probably should’ve caught that”?