Published: October 03, 2023 | Updated: June 19, 2025

Published: October 03, 2023 | Updated: June 19, 2025

Uncovering the Human Role in Equipment Failure

When machinery fails or systems stop functioning, the tendency is to blame hardware, software, or just bad luck. But much of the time, the root cause lies in human hands. Uncovering the human role in equipment failure presents a recurring challenge across industries. In this article, we'll examine how people influence equipment breakdowns—from design to customer support—and how a Computerized Maintenance Management System (CMMS) can reduce these costly disruptions.

Design Flaws: Where Mistakes Begin

Every machine starts as an idea. That idea turns into a blueprint, then into a prototype, and finally into a product. Each stage involves people—engineers, designers, production workers—each one capable of introducing unintended errors. In manufacturing environments, even a slight miscalculation can trigger significant downstream effects. For instance, if a conveyor belt motor is designed for intermittent use but ends up running nonstop, failure becomes inevitable.

Design errors show up in industries as diverse as automotive, consumer electronics, and packaging. What if an appliance manufacturer recalled thousands of refrigerators due to fan motor overheating—caused not by faulty materials, but by poor thermal management in the design phase? If someone missed a detail, the company pays the price.

A CMMS plays a key role in catching early signs of design-related failure. It aggregates maintenance history, downtime frequency, and recurring part replacements. This data points engineers toward patterns they might otherwise miss. If a specific model or part consistently underperforms, maintenance records flag it long before it leads to a costly shutdown or recall.

Sales Mismatches and Misaligned Expectations

The next step after development involves sales. Unfortunately, missteps often occur here, too. Sales representatives, driven by quotas or limited training, may offer the wrong solution for a client's specific environment. Consider the case of a food processing company that received stainless steel mixers that couldn't handle high-volume, wet mixing. The mismatch stemmed from a salesperson who failed to understand the equipment's capacity and the client's requirements.

Such errors often result from inadequate technical training, lack of communication, or assuming rather than verifying client needs. The consequences can be long-term: wasted investment, higher maintenance costs, and lower productivity. A CMMS with integrated procurement or equipment specs helps teams record which machines fit which tasks. Over time, it becomes a guidebook for sales and purchasing decisions—avoiding repeat mistakes.

Training Failures and Misuse of Equipment

Even the right machine can fail in the wrong hands. Training—or the lack of it—marks one of the most underestimated causes of equipment breakdowns. Employees might ignore safety features, overload a system, or skip key maintenance tasks—not out of malice, but from ignorance.

Manufacturing plants face this often during seasonal hiring. Temporary workers enter the production floor with little context, expected to operate complex machines after a brief orientation. When something goes wrong, production halts, supervisors scramble, and blame cycles through departments.

Training issues stem from both trainers and trainees. Trainers might lack product knowledge or fail to deliver hands-on instruction. Trainees, especially in high-pressure environments, may feel too rushed to absorb essential information. Worse still, some overconfident workers disregard guidelines entirely.

A CMMS helps prevent such issues by storing digital training records linked to specific equipment. Managers see who's certified to operate what, and whether their training is up to date. Scheduled refreshers, tutorials, or walk-through videos can be automatically assigned before equipment is accessed, minimizing misuse due to inexperience.

Goal Misalignment: Purchasing Without Purpose

Sometimes the problem arises before sales—during internal decision-making. When companies acquire equipment without clear goals, misuse follows. The machine becomes a square peg in a round hole, forced into unsuitable applications or left underutilized until breakdown occurs.

Construction firms occasionally invest in high-capacity excavators with the assumption they'll be used on larger projects. Months later, the machines sit idle or rack up wear hauling light materials not suited for their capabilities. Misuse often results in unnecessary maintenance or parts failure.

Using a CMMS during the pre-purchase phase allows teams to reference past asset performance, current production demands, and the realistic lifecycle costs of new equipment. By aligning purchases with real operational needs, organizations save not only on capital expense but also avoid future repair or replacement costs.

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Customer Support: The Forgotten Link in Equipment Lifecycles

Support teams stand as the final line of defense when issues arise. Unfortunately, many companies weaken here. Lackluster service, long response times, or apathetic representatives push users toward guesswork. In industries like agriculture or manufacturing, delays can mean hundreds of thousands in lost production time.

Take a mid-sized food packaging company, for example, where a sealing machine malfunctions. Their operator contacts the vendor, only to be told a technician can't assist for three days. With no clear documentation or guidance available, they try to "fix" it themselves. The repair misfires and worsens the issue, requiring full unit replacement.

By contrast, firms that integrate CMMS with customer service platforms allow shared access to repair history, maintenance logs, and manuals. Service reps can diagnose faster. Some systems even allow remote troubleshooting using real-time machine data. In this way, a CMMS bridges the knowledge gap between user and support team.

Human Error Isn't the Enemy—Neglecting It Is

Human error won't disappear, but it shouldn't be ignored. From the drawing board to the shop floor, people introduce mistakes—but also provide solutions. Each breakdown carries a message, a signal that somewhere in the chain, someone overlooked a critical detail. Whether it was a design oversight, a sales mismatch, or poor training, understanding these points creates a foundation for long-term reliability.

Relying solely on physical assets without a feedback mechanism leads to repeated failures. The most effective way forward lies in combining human experience with digital systems that track, learn, and adapt. A CMMS doesn't erase mistakes, but it makes them visible—and visibility leads to better choices.

Mapcon / 800-922-4336