Mean Time Between Failures (MTBF)
Average operating time between equipment failures
What is Mean Time Between Failures (MTBF)?
Mean time between failures is the average operating time between breakdowns of equipment. It shows how reliable machinery is.
Longer times between failures mean fewer interruptions to production and lower maintenance cost.
How this KPI is measured
- Function
- Operations & Supply Chain
- Sub-function
- Asset Management
- Industry
- Manufacturing
- Type
- Leading
- Impact
- Efficiency
- Unit
- hrs
- Measurement frequency
- Weekly / Monthly
- Formula
- Total operating time / Number of failures in period
How to calculate it
Divide total operating time by the number of failures in the period.
For example, if a machine ran for 1,000 hours and failed 4 times, MTBF is 250 hours.
Count only failures that stop the equipment from performing, and measure per asset or asset type.
Where it is used
Judging equipment reliability
Compare machines and suppliers.
Planning maintenance
Schedule work before likely failure.
Deciding on replacement
Find assets that fail too often.
How to improve it
Tips and common mistakes
- Use with mean time to repair for the full picture.
- Define a failure clearly.
- Compare similar equipment.
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