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Mean Time Between Failures & Mean Time To Repair

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Total production time (up
time + down time)
250 OSKAR OLOFSSON
I am a Swedish-based
Total down time 40 Lean consultant, and the
Number of breakdowns 16 owner of the World-Class-
Manufacturing.com web
site.
Calculate MTBF and MTTR

Explanation
Mean Time Between Failures and Mean Time To Repair are two important KPI's in plant
maintenance.

Mean Time Between Failures = (Total up time) / (number of breakdowns)

Mean Time To Repair = (Total down time) / (number of breakdowns)

"Mean Time" means, statistically, the average time.

"Mean Time Between Failures" is literally the average time elapsed from one failure to the next. 
Usually people think of it as the average time that something works until it fails and needs to be
repaired (again).

"Mean Time To Repair" is the average time that it takes to repair something after a failure.

For something that cannot be repaired, the correct term is "Mean Time To Failure" (MTTF).  Some
would define MTBF – for repair-able devices – as the sum of MTTF plus MTTR. .In other words,
the mean time between failures is the time from one failure to another.  This distinction is
important if the repair time is a significant fraction of MTTF.

Here is an example.  A light bulb in a chandelier is not repairable, so MTTF is most appropriate. 
(The light bulb will be replaced).  The MTTF might be 10,000 hours. 

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On the other hand, without oil changes, an automobile's engine may fail after 150 hours of
highway driving – that is the MTTF.  Assuming 6 hours to remove and replace the engine (MTTR),
Mean Time Between Failures is 150 hours.

Like automobiles, most manufacturing equipment will be repaired, rather than replaced after a
failure, so Mean Time Between Failures is the more appropriate measurement.

What is a Failure?
"Failure" can have multiple meanings.  Let us briefly examine one device's "failures":

An Uninterruptible Power Source (UPS) may have five functions under two conditions:

While the main power is available:

Allow power to flow from the main source to the machine being protected
Condition the power by limiting surges or brownouts
Store power in a battery, up to the battery's full charge

When the main power is interrupted:

Supply continuous power to the machine being protected
Emit a signal to indicate that the main power is off

There is no question that the UPS has failed if it prevents main power from flowing to the
machine being protected (function 1).  Failures for functions 2, 3 or 5 may not be obvious,
because the "protected" machine is still running on main power or on the battery supply.  Even if
noticed, these failures may not trigger immediate corrective measures because the "protected"
machine is still running and it may be more important to keep it running than to repair or
replace the UPS.

 
What is Availability?
The "availability" of a device is, mathematically, MTBF / (MTBF + MTTR) for scheduled working
time.

The automobile in the earlier example is available for 150/156 = 96.2% of the time.  The repair is
unscheduled down time.

With an unscheduled half-hour oil change every 50 hours – when a dashboard indicator alerts
the driver – availability would increase to 50/50.5 = 99%.

If oil changes were properly scheduled as a maintenance activity, then availability would be
100%.

 
Why are these important?
"Availability" is a key performance indicator in manufacturing; it is part of the "Overall
Equipment Effectiveness" (OEE) metric.

A production schedule that includes down time for preventative maintenance can accurately
predict total production.  Schedules that ignore Mean Time Between Failures and Mean Time To
Repair are simply future disasters awaiting remediation.

 
How to calculate actual Mean Time Between Failures
Actual or historic Mean Time Between Failures is calculated using observations in the real world. 
(There is a separate discipline for equipment designers, based on the components and
anticipated workload).

Calculating actual Mean Time Between Failures requires a set of observations; each observation
is:

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Uptime_moment: the moment at which a machine began operating (initially or after a repair)
Downtime_moment: the moment at which a machine failed after operating since the previous
uptime-moment

So each Time Between Failure (TBF) is the difference between one Uptime_moment observation
and the subsequent Downtime_moment.

Three quantities are required:

n = Number of observations.
ui = This is the ith Uptime_moment
di = This is the ith Downtime_moment following the ith Uptime_moment

So Mean Time Between Failures = Sum (di – ui)/ n  , for all i = 1 through n observations.  More
simply, it is the total working time divided by the number of failures.

By Oskar Olofsson

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50 comments  

Add a comment...

Also post on Facebook   Posting as Aparnesh Mukherjee ▾ Comment

Sumudu Karunarathne · Colombo, Sri Lanka
Dear Sir, Please confirm me are there any calculation for Calculate MTBF. 
MTBF = Total Operating Time/(Total no of Breakdown +1) is this Toyota system? I don't know
like this method. but our management prposed to like this method for use for calculate MTBF.
they said this is the method use by Toyota. please confirm me As soon as possible.
I allso belive your method.
Email : sumudu.karunarathne@loadstarlk.com (Lean Practitioner).
Reply · Like ·  2 · Follow Post · September 3, 2011 at 7:28am

Oskar Olofsson · Founder at WCM Consulting AB
Sumudu, it is a bit philosophical. If you run the machine one hour and you have
one breakdown after 30 minutes, you will have a MTBF = one hour with my
method and MTBF = 30 minutes with your method. Which one is correct? I still
vote for my method as you did not have a breakdown after one hour, you just
stopped measuring. I guess the "+1" in your formula is there so that the
calculation works even when there are no breakdowns.

With more time and more breakdowns the "+1" will have very little effect.
Reply · Like ·  4 · September 3, 2011 at 12:58pm

Robert Miedema · Technisch Commercieel Mederwerker at Bercomex
Dear Sir,

Why is the availability; Av = MTBF / (MTBF + MTTR). As in this calculation the MTBF is
divided by the MTBF + MTTR and so the MTTR is counted twice beceause the MTBF also
contains the MTTR. 

Logically for me the calculation should be: Av = (MTBF ­ MTTR) / MTBF, this way the Av is
calculated by dividing the actual uptime by the MTBF. 

Pls explain the reason why you choose for the first equation. 

Thanks.
Reply · Like ·  1 · Follow Post · January 31, 2012 at 3:19pm

Oskar Olofsson · Founder at WCM Consulting AB
Hi Robert, 

I use MTBF = uptime / #breakdowns (and not total time / #breakdowns) as the
http://world­class­manufacturing.com/KPI/mtbf.html 3/5
3/2/2015 MTBF and MTTR calculator
I use MTBF = uptime / #breakdowns (and not total time / #breakdowns) as the
machine normally does not break down during repair...
Reply · Like ·  2 · January 31, 2012 at 5:30pm

Mark Ukpai · Maintenance Coordinator at West African Gas Pipeline Company
What is the relationship between MTTR and RELIABILITY?
Reply · Like · Follow Post · November 16, 2011 at 8:55pm

Keith Lewandowski · Northern Illinois University
Reliability is the probability that a product will perform its intended function for a
certain amount of time. MTTR is a measurement for Maintainability, not
Reliability. Here is how their relationship works: Maintainability is important
because if a product's Reliability is poor, a product will continue failing and many
repairs will be required. The easier an item can repaired ­­ or the more
maintainable it is ­­ the less time, manpower, tools and money will be required to
fix it.
Reply · Like · May 22, 2012 at 7:13am

Pradipta Kumar Mishra · Ravenshaw Collegiate School
In a year I have replaced a pump thrice in a planned manner which has been scheduled for
replacement after 4 month. After 1st and 3rd replacement the pump failed after 30 days and
20 days of operation. For the planned replacement I took 5 hours for planned replacement,
but for the unplanned one I took 7 & 8 hours for replacement. 
Q­1. What is the MTBF and MTTR considering single line equipment i.e. there is direct
production loss. 
Q­2. What is the MTBF and MTTR considering there is no production loss, since standby
pump is available. 
Q­3. What is the MTBF and MTTR considering although standby pump is available, there is a
loss time since during the 3rd failure there is a loss time of 3 hour since the standby pump
was under replacement.
Reply · Like · Follow Post · January 29 at 7:52pm

Wen Hui · Works at Universiti Pertahanan Nasional Malaysia
sir may i know how to get the no of break time n how to calculate MTTR and MTBF..?I been
given failure rate,total operation time,mean down time,total number of maintanance
action,man preventive maintenance time,and mean logistic plus adminstrative time.
Reply · Like · Follow Post · October 16, 2014 at 5:23pm

Padmini Karthikeyan · Chennai, Tamil Nadu
Can we calculate MTBF to predict quality failure ?
Reply · Like · Follow Post · September 22, 2014 at 3:14pm

Sandy Ben ·  Follow · Kakatiya University
Sir, is the calculation for Availability correct? You say MTBF is 156 however the formula is
MTBF/(MTBF+MTTR). This should be 156/(156+6). But you have 150/156 that means it
should be MTTF/(MTTF+MTTR) or MTTF/MTBF. Am I correct of I did not understand your
point.
Reply · Like · Follow Post · September 8, 2014 at 5:45pm

Ease Technologies
Good Info (y) Ease Technologies
Reply · Like · Follow Post · August 20, 2014 at 8:59am

Thien Hang · Works at Vietsoft Co., Ltd.
Dear Sir,

I have a problem when i calculate MTTR and MTBF follow your form:
I want to calculate for 1 month (for example August 2014). my production line work 24/24. In
this time, my production line break from 07/25/2014 to 03/08/2014; from 08/10/2014 to
12/08/2014; from 08/20/2014 to 08/21/2014 and from 08/30/2014 to 09/02/2014. in your
opinion, how many times (2, 3 or 4) of break and how many hour of breaktime?

i hope you can help me in this case.
My email is: nvhienbk@gmail.com

Thanks you
Reply · Like · Follow Post · August 12, 2014 at 2:06pm

Budu Barnes ·  Follow · Sunyani polytechnic
Dear sir kindly help me solve this, Q. Equipment can work 24/7 in a month of 30 days but had
2 breakdowns lasting 3 hours. what is is MTBF and MTTR
Reply · Like · Follow Post · August 5, 2014 at 7:24pm

Andrews Arockia Samy · Ponnaiah Higher Secondary School
MTBF=358.5 , MTTR = 1.5
Reply · Like · November 1, 2014 at 2:52pm

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