The real cost of a bad automation hire downtime (2025, US focus)

Written by Luke Harrison & Mark Ainscough

In 2025, US manufacturers don’t lose margin because “people are expensive”. They lose it because lines sit still.

The most painful trigger? A mis-hire in controls or robotics. One wrong fit can ripple from missed FAT/SAT to vendor standby fees, scrap surges, and throughput you can’t claw back. If you’re making headcount decisions for an automation programme, quantify the downtime first, then hire to avoid it.

When a controls/robotics hire misses the mark, the bill isn’t just salary. It’s unplanned downtime: missed FAT/SAT, vendor standby, scrap spikes, and throughput you never get back.

Why this matters in real money

For the world’s largest manufacturers, unplanned downtime now eats ~11% of annual revenue (up from ~8% in 2019/20). In automotive, a lost hour averages around $2.3M. In FMCG, it’s circa $39k/hour. That’s before you add overtime, expedites, and penalties.

Downtime calculator

Downtime cost ≈ (Units lost × contribution margin per unit) + idle labor + overtime + vendor/SI standby + expedited logistics + quality/scrap + penalties. If you don’t have contribution margin handy, use sector per-hour benchmarks to sanity-check your math.

• Two worked examples
  Automotive line (benchmark method): 90 minutes unplanned outage × $2.3M/hour ≈ $3.45M in lost value, before overtime/expedites.
• FMCG packaging line (benchmark + local costs): 8 hours unplanned outage × $39k/hour ≈ $312k, then add overtime (say $14k), scrap/rework ($20k), rush freight ($8k) → ~$354k.

How a mis-hire creates downtime

An under-skilled controls lead drags commissioning. Safety sign-off bounces. Fault-finding takes days, not hours. Vendors idle on standby. Your A-players stop future work to triage today’s line, OEE drops and payback extends.

What changes the odds

A skills-based, structured hiring loop (scorecard, ≤90-min stack-specific work sample, anchored interviews, bar-raiser, 48-hr decision) measurably cuts mis-hires and speeds hires. That’s fewer outages, faster handovers, and less time paying for silence.

Finance wants proof? Give them categories, not vibes

Show them a sensitivity: +1 hour of outage at your sector rate; +10% scrap during restart; +1 day of vendor standby. The curve moves by six and seven figures in heavy industry and auto. Prevention (assessment + specialist recruiting) is cheaper than remediation (triage + re-hire).

If you’re planning an automation or controls hire and want to de-risk downtime, we can run a fast, skills-based search with stack-specific work samples. Book a chat with Kensington Additive to benchmark the role, align on stack/standards (PLC/robot/vision/safety), and get a shortlist that protects your OEE and handover dates. You can learn more about our offering or upload your CV here: https://www.kensingtonadditive.com/

Sources

1. Siemens / Senseye — True Cost of Downtime 2024 (PDF). Automotive downtime ~$2.3M/hour, costs doubled vs 2019; sector benchmarks across industries. Siemens Assets
2. Siemens blog (2024). Recap of the 2024 findings; automotive $2.3M/hour figure. blog.siemens.com
3. Institute for Supply Management (Aug 27, 2024). Unplanned downtime = ~11% of annual revenues for Fortune Global 500 (≈ $1.4T), automotive $2.3M/hour. ismworld.org
4. Siemens blog (2023). Cross-industry hour-cost range from $39k/hour (FMCG) to >$2M/hour (auto); useful for FMCG example. blog.siemens.com
5. MaintainX — State of Industrial Maintenance 2024. Typical plants see ~$25k/hour average, scaling to $500k+ for larger orgs; helpful sanity-check outside auto. software.getmaintainx.com
6. Siemens / Senseye — True Cost of Downtime 2022 (PDF). Context on rising cost per plant (e.g., $129M/plant/year average; auto plants >$600M/year losses). Siemens Assets