A leading European distributor recently unveiled a new initiative that aims to provide an indicator of manufacturing health in the region.
Rubix said that it launched the “Uptime Index” following conversations with customers across Europe. Those companies sought more visibility into the factors affecting factory uptime, and, in turn, how to address them in order to bolster productivity, improve resilience and remain competitive.
“Within any manufacturing business, the factory is the heart and uptime is its oxygen – so the Uptime Index is the industry’s health check,” David Cullern, the group vice president of key accounts at Rubix, said in a statement.
The initial Uptime Index came in at 74 out of 100 in June, Rubix officials said. That reflected a "relatively high” confidence level, they added, but although the survey found that respondents throughout Europe were largely positive about maintenance, they were less confident about predictive maintenance, in particular. In the British Isles, meanwhile, a lack of access to skilled labor was identified as a potential problem.
“It’s encouraging to see real momentum in some areas, but there’s more to do to ensure progress is shared across the board,” Cullern said.
Rubix also said that it would publish a series of whitepapers to support the Uptime Index.
