MTTR is the abbreviation for mean time to repair and it is a metric system of measurement.
The MTTR concept is used to determine the cause of the failure in the equipment and calculate how much time the maintenance department will need to fix these failures. In this way, maintenance department personnel have the opportunity to instantly learn how fast they should react in case of sudden failures.
This is why MTTR measurements are important regardless of the sector.
MTTR values are important for almost every sector, especially factories, railway companies, spare parts sectors, banks, and other technology companies. It is because these measurements allow us to reduce downtime and increase productivity.
MTTR Formula
MTTR measurement is a metric system, which allows the calculation of the time required to reactivate the business plan in case of an unexpected failure. The formula used to calculate this measurement is called the MTTR formula. Measurements are carried out with professional calculations by maintenance personnel, who are experts in their fields. In this way, achieving the most accurate results can be possible.
It is necessary to know the total time spent repairing unplanned failures and determine how many times the failure has occurred to measure the mean time to repair. Later, the number of failures is divided by the total repair time. The result is equal to the time needed to eliminate the failure, i.e., M.T.T.R. value.
How to Calculate MTTR?
First of all, it is necessary for the expert maintenance personnel to record the failure data regularly to calculate the mean time to repair. A factory production monitoring program must be set up to access this data. Later, it is possible to make calculations by using the MTTR formula. The value achieved with the mean time to repair calculation will cover all of the following stages:
- Informing the maintenance department personnel in case of a failure,
- Identifying the problem causing the failure,
- Eliminating the identified failure,
- Reassemble the repaired equipment and confirm that it is in operation,
- Resetting and testing the systems that are in the production phase in case of failure,
- The restart of the systems and the continuation of production after all the checks are done.
Calculation of the mean time to repair is an effective measure to identify the time from the moment the failure occurs to the moment when the systems will start working again. This is why it is a very important metric for production sectors.
What Is the MTTR Target?
Mean time to repair measurement is a metric system that specifies the time to be spared for the elimination of unplanned failures, which leads to interruptions in production. The number of failures must be divided by the total repair time to make the calculation. However, businesses try to avoid failures as much as possible so that their business plans are not interrupted and disrupted, and in case of any failure, they expect these failures are repaired as soon as possible. This is why the MTTR target of the businesses is reaching the lowest possible values.
MTTR Improvement Stages
The mean time to repair concept is an important key performance indicator. Reducing MTTR values means shorter downtime, stable production, happy customers, and reduced maintenance costs. The higher mean time to repair means higher loss.
There are 4 MTTR improvement stages, which are diagnostic, data, repair, and testing. Understanding each stage and making plans to minimize them are some of the most important elements of production efficiency. Therefore, it is important to work with expert personnel at all stages.
What Is the Difference Between MTTR and MTBF
MTTR concept means mean time to repair. On the other hand, MTBF indicated the mean time between failures. The main difference between these two concepts is they are different measurements. Combining MTBF and MTTR calculations provides the runtime. The following formula is used to calculate the runtime with these two metrics:
Runtime = MTBF / (MTBF + MTTR)