Prevent Production Downtime: Reduce machine breakdowns and cut costs

You probably know this situation:
Suddenly, a machine comes to a halt. No one knows why. The team is waiting, the delivery deadline is approaching – and the tension is rising.

Machine downtimes are common in the industry. Depending on the sector and process, unplanned outages can cost thousands or even millions of euros. Yet, in many cases, companies still respond manually to breakdowns, relying on improvised solutions and a handful of experts.

In this article, we’ll show you how to systematically prevent production downtime and machine stoppages – using a digital approach that relies on structure rather than chance.

Why Downtime Costs More Than Just Time

You know that downtime means more than just lost time.

An unplanned production stop has immediate consequences:

• Delays in production

• Material backlog or scrap

• Emergency services and costly repairs

• Staff tied up without output

• Frustration from customers - and within your team

But the real challenge often isn't the downtime itself – it's that errors are detected too late or cannot be properly diagnosed. The machine is stopped – but no one knows why.

Why Traditional Reaction Patterns Reach Their Limits

Many companies respond to machine downtime in a familiar way:
Call the technician → search for the cause → restart the system → hope it won’t happen again.

This sometimes works – but it is:

• time-consuming

• not scalable

• not sustainable

• and heavily dependent on individual personnel

On top of that: every change to the control logic carries new risks.
If no one remembers why a control program was written a certain way, long-term dependencies arise – with all the well-known problems during maintenance, servicing or staff turnover.

Digital Ways Out of Downtime

Modern manufacturing today needs more than just reaction – it needs digital process reliability.
Instead of manually programming individual functions, it's about systematically modeling machine behavior to prevent downtime through a systematic approach.

In practice, this means:

• Modeling machine processes instead of manually coding them

• Detecting errors digitally – so they can be resolved as quickly as possible

• Creating fail-safety through standardization, not through expert-only knowledge

Case Study: How Selmo Delivers an End-to-End Solution for Manufacturers

A food manufacturing company chose Selmo to reduce machine downtime and achieve greater process transparency.
The focus was not on code, but on the ability to digitally model, document, and make the entire machine process permanently traceable - without the usual programming dependencies.

At Selmo, we don’t start with the error – we start with the process.

We offer a comprehensive strategic approach to help companies rethink their machine control – clearly structured, digital, and future-proof.
With Selmo, machine behavior is modeled as a clear and manageable process. This creates a unified foundation for planning, implementation, and further development – transparent, stable, and independent of individual programming solutions.

What has changed as a result:

• Clearly defined process flows instead of complex, hard-to-read control logic

• Precise error detection – even for previously unknown deviations

• Relief for internal teams, thanks to Selmo’s guidance, training, and implementation support

• Faster commissioning – no need to start from scratch with manual programming

And above all: unplanned machine downtime was reduced to a minimum – and can be resolved immediately.

Selmo offers no generic ‘one-size-fits-all’ solution. We work side by side with our customers—from strategic planning and process modeling to implementation and startup. Our approach provides a flexible, standardized framework for machine control based on digital process modeling

Conclusion: Preventing Downtime Starts With Process Thinking

Digitalization today offers more than just monitoring – it enables companies to actively control machine behavior, detect issues early, and ensure stable operations.

Whether you're an SME or a large corporation:
If you want to reduce downtime, you don’t need a better programmer – you need a clearer structure.

This is exactly where Selmo comes in.

Curious to learn more?
Schedule a free 30-minute consultation with our team – and discover how you can make your production more efficient.