In a typical day on the shop floor, a few minutes of downtime can quickly turn into hours of lost production.
Yet in many factories, unplanned stops remain poorly identified, poorly understood… and poorly resolved.
Why? Because most of the time, you’re missing reliable data at the right moment.
👉 In this article, we break down what these breakdowns are really costing you, why they often go unnoticed, and most importantly how to take control of them for good.
Invisible Losses... with Real Impact
An unexpected machine stop means:
🔄 Blocked production
👥 Idle teams
📦 Delayed orders
💸 Hidden costs (scrap, stress, emergency maintenance, production overload…)
And the most frustrating part? You often have no idea why it stopped.
"We knew machines were stopping, but we never really knew why." Production Manager, Metal Industry
The real problem: Lack of timely, reliable data
Excel sheets filled in after the fact, paper reports, or end-of-shift memos are no longer enough.
In the moment, you need to know:
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Which machine stopped?
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For how long?
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Why? (Failure, material shortage, manual stop, micro-stoppage?)
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Who was on the station?
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Is it a one-time issue or a recurring one?
👉 Without these answers, you treat the symptoms never the root causes.
The solution: capture data right at the source
With KEYPROD, you can:
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Install a non-intrusive IoT in minutes
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Monitor each machine in real time
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Get instant alerts when downtime occurs
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Categorize root causes
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Build a usable, shared history of events
🎯 The result? You no longer endure downtime, you understand it, then reduce it.
Our Clients took back control
L'Union des Forgerons - Open-die Forging & Stamping
❌ Before:
Downtime events were hard to track. Data was gathered manually during rounds on the shop floor, limiting deep analysis and slowing improvement efforts.
✅ After implementing KEYPROD:
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Real-time machine performance monitoring
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Automatic stop detection and cause categorization
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Operator engagement based on factual data
🎯 Results:
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+10 to 15% machine capacity increase
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Clear visibility on losses
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Targeted action plans and faster continuous improvement
"KEYPROD helps us track and analyze production, then implement corrective actions to fix the issues we uncover." Augustin RICHARD, Production Technician - L'Union des Forgerons
Proform - Tube forming specialist
❌ Before:
Changeover-related downtime wasn’t being tracked or qualified.
The result: overestimated OEE, unclear priorities, and hidden productivity gaps.
✅ After implementing KEYPROD:
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Systematic identification and qualification of downtime
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-70% downtime related to series changeovers
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Optimized action plans thanks to accurate root cause analysis
🎯 Results:
Faster response times, operators engaged in root cause discussions, and an OEE recalibrated to reflect real improvement areas.
"Thanks to KEYPROD and clear downtime visibility, we were able to prioritize the right improvement projects and boost our competitiveness." Yoann HAMON, Manufacturing Manager - Proform
What You’ll gain, tangibly
⏱️ Less uncontrolled downtime, more preventive action
📊 Reliable data, ready for analysis and sharing
🔧 Smarter, targeted maintenance strategies
👥 Better-informed, more reactive teams
📈 Productivity gains without heavy investment
And all of this… without changing your tools or your processes.
In summary: Don’t let downtime stay in the dark
If you can’t measure it, you can’t improve it.
With real-time data capture, you take back control of your production lines.
KEYPROD turns every stop into a driver of continuous improvement, no overkill, no red tape.
Ready to hear what your machines have to say?
➡️ Try KEYPROD for free and start reducing unplanned downtime from day one.
