Asset economics

Downtime Cost Calculator

Estimate an interruption’s direct cost from lost contribution and the recovery, material, penalty, or other costs that belong to the event.

Event cost data

Use contribution margin rather than revenue unless revenue is the intended decision basis.

What this calculator does

This tool adds lost production contribution to direct labor/recovery and other event-specific costs. It makes the building blocks visible so a team can agree what belongs in an outage before using the number in a decision.

When to use it

Use it for a production stop, a reliability business case, or to rank recurring loss modes. The model is deliberately simple enough to review on the floor.

Inputs and formula

Lost contribution is duration × lost units per hour × contribution per unit. Downtime cost = lost contribution + labor/recovery + other direct costs

Worked example and interpretation

An 8-hour stop at 100 units/hour and 25 currency units contribution has 20,000 of lost contribution. Add 1,800 labor/recovery and 700 other costs for a 22,500 event model.

Practical notes and limitations

Do not double count lost production and expedited recovery. If output can be recovered later without incremental cost, the lost contribution may be lower. Major cases should add safety, contractual, inventory, energy, and customer-impact scenarios under reviewed assumptions.