What must be less than 12 hours to maintain a positive total cost of ownership for manufacturing equipment?

The concept of total cost of ownership (TCO) incorporates various elements, including operational efficiency and downtime. To maintain a positive TCO for manufacturing equipment, it is crucial that the mean time to recovery (RTO) is optimized. RTO represents the duration of time it takes to restore a system or equipment after a failure occurs. If the RTO is less than 12 hours, it indicates that the organization can quickly recover from disruptions, minimizing potential losses associated with downtime, thus supporting a positive TCO.

Maintaining a low RTO ensures that manufacturing operations can continue with minimal interruption, which is vital for the overall cost-effectiveness of the equipment. Conversely, if RTO exceeds this threshold, the downtime could lead to increased costs that compromise profitability, ultimately affecting the total cost of ownership negatively.

The other terms—mean time between failures (MTBF), recovery point objective (RPO), and mean time to repair (MTTR)—are also important metrics in managing equipment and systems, but they serve different purposes in assessing reliability and recovery. MTBF relates to the average time between failures, RPO deals with acceptable data loss in the event of a failure, and MTTR refers to the average time taken to repair a failed component.