MTBF (Mean Time Between Failures) and MTTR (Mean Time To Repair) are two very important indicators when it comes to availability of an application. Despite its importance in the performance of the processes, most managers do not make full use of these key performance indicators (KPIs) in their control activities. Find out in the next few lines the differences between these two metrics and how they can be used to improve the efficiency of the processes in your company.
What are MTBF and MTTR:
MTBF, or Mean Time Between Failures, is a metric that concerns the average time elapsed between a failure and the next time it occurs. These lapses of time can be calculated by using a formula.
Whereas the MTTR, or Mean Time To Repair, is the time it takes to run a repair after the occurrence of the failure. That is, it is the time spent during the intervention in a given process.
The two formulas Conceptual differences, different formulas! Check the ways to calculate MTBF and MTTR:
MTBF:
Total time of correct operation in a period/number of failures
For example: a system should operate correctly for 9 hours During this period, 4 failures occurred. Adding to all failures, we have 60 minutes (1 hour). Calculating the MTBF, we would have:
MTBF = (9-1)/4 = 2 hours
This index reveals that a failure in the system occurs every 2 hours, leaving it unavailable and generating losses to the company.The opportunity to spot this index allows you to plan strategies to reduce this time.
Total hours of downtime caused by system failures/number of failures
Using the same example, we come to the MTTR, by using the following formula:
MTTR = 60 min/4 failures = 15 minutes
Above, we have the average time of each downtime. Therefore, the company knows that every 2 hours, the system will be unavailable for 15 minutes. Being aware of our limitations is the first step to eliminate them.
Uptime calculation:
The uptime calculation involves MTTR and MTBF. We can get to the uptime of a system, for instance, using these 2 KPIs.
Let’scheck the formula:Uptime= MTBF/(MTBF + MTTR)
To be more clear, nothing better than a practical example. Imagine the following situation:
A. How long the system should work: 36 hours
B. How long the system was not working: 24 hours
C. How long the system has been available: 12 hours
D. A total of 4 failures occurred.
Uptime: (A-B/D) / [(A-B/D) + (B/D)] = (36-24/4) / [(36-24/4) + (24/4)] = 3 / 9 = 33%
Benefits in the use of these performance indicators:
- MTTR and MTBF are two indicators used for more than 60 years as points of reference for decision-making. MTBF is a basic measure of the reliability of a system, while MTTR indicates efficiency on corrective action of a process.
- If the MTBF has increased after a preventive maintenance process, this indicates a clear improvement in the quality of your processes and, probably, in your final product, which will bring greater credibility to your brand and trust in your products. The MTBF increase will show that your maintenance or verification methods are being well run, a true guide to support teams.
- In the case of MTTR, the effort should be exactly the opposite: to reduce it as much as possible to avoid loss of productivity for system unavailability. A lower mean-time-to-repair indicates that your company has quick answers to problems in their processes, which demonstrates a high degree of efficiency.
- As it can be noticed, MTTR and MTBF are two powerful performance indicators that should be used to expand the company’s knowledge about processes and reduce losses in productivity or quality in the products offered.
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