The Maintenance
Benchmark Report
OEE, MTTR, MTBF, cost, and staffing benchmarks across 12 industries. Plus a self-assessment scorecard and 90-day improvement roadmap.
By Dovient | 25+ pages | Updated March 2026
Executive Summary
This report aggregates maintenance performance benchmarks from published industry sources including SMRP, Reliabilityweb, Plant Engineering, and the Siemens True Cost of Downtime report. The numbers reflect what maintenance teams achieve in real operating environments, with all the constraints that come with aging equipment, limited budgets, and the ongoing challenge of finding skilled technicians.
Key Findings
- •The median OEE across all industries is 61%. Only 18% of facilities achieve top-quartile performance.
- •Reactive maintenance still accounts for 45% of all work orders at the median facility. Top performers keep this below 15%.
- •Wrench time (the percentage of a technician's shift spent actually turning wrenches) averages just 28%. Top quartile: 48%.
- •Plants that maintain PM compliance above 92% see 3.2x fewer emergency breakdowns than those below 75%.
OEE Benchmarks by Industry
Overall Equipment Effectiveness remains the single most telling metric for manufacturing performance. These benchmarks reflect reported OEE from facilities running continuous or semi-continuous operations.
| Industry | World-class | Top Quartile | Median | Bottom Quartile |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Automotive | 90% | 82% | 65% | 45% |
| Food & Bev | 88% | 78% | 60% | 40% |
| Pharma | 85% | 75% | 58% | 38% |
| Steel/Metals | 80% | 70% | 55% | 35% |
| Oil & Gas | 92% | 85% | 72% | 50% |
| General Mfg | 85% | 77% | 60% | 42% |
| Cement | 78% | 68% | 52% | 35% |
| Plastics | 82% | 74% | 58% | 40% |
| Chemicals | 86% | 78% | 62% | 42% |
| Energy/Utilities | 90% | 82% | 68% | 48% |
| Packaging | 84% | 76% | 60% | 42% |
| Electronics | 88% | 80% | 65% | 45% |
How to read this table
World-class represents the top 5% of facilities in each industry. Top Quartile is the 75th percentile. Median is the 50th percentile. Bottom Quartile is the 25th percentile. If your OEE falls below the median for your industry, the gap represents significant untapped production capacity. A 10-percentage-point improvement in OEE at a facility running $50M in annual production translates to roughly $5M in additional output.
Interactive OEE Comparison
Select your industry and enter your OEE to see where you stand.
Your industry median is 65%. World-class is 90%. Closing the 15-point gap to median could unlock significant production capacity.
MTTR Benchmarks by Equipment Type
Mean Time to Repair varies enormously depending on equipment complexity, parts availability, and team skill level. These ranges reflect what well-run maintenance teams actually achieve in field conditions, not vendor specifications.
Interactive MTTR Comparison
Select equipment type and enter your MTTR to see how you compare.
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