original REsearch

New Research: Confidence Is Outrunning Visibility on Unplanned Downtime

MultiSensor AI surveyed 152 reliability practitioners and operations leaders on unplanned downtime and condition monitoring across e-commerce distribution and carriers, couriers, and parcel networks. Nearly all of them believe they can catch equipment failures before they cause disruption. The data on unplanned downtime says otherwise.
Get the Full Report Independent research conducted with Censuswide, May-June 2026 - n=152 US-based respondents
Automation & Maintenance

Warehouse and Distribution Automation Is Outpacing Maintenance Readiness

Automation has accelerated across sortation, conveyor, and fulfillment operations, and it isn't slowing down. But investment in the maintenance and condition monitoring needed to keep that automation running hasn't kept pace. Most operators know it, and many are automating anyway.

Top reasons companies automate
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  • 91%

    of practitioners and VPs have knowingly approved or implemented automation their team wasn't ready to maintain.

  • 49%

    say it's happened more than once.

The Core Paradox

Why Warning Signs Get Missed: Confidence vs. Reality in Condition Monitoring

Most reliability teams believe their condition monitoring program will catch a failing asset before it causes unplanned downtime. In practice, that confidence rarely gets tested until after something breaks. Warning signs get seen, and sometimes flagged, but without continuous condition monitoring in place, they don't get acted on until the asset has already gone down.

  • 83%

    of practitioners have missed a warning sign on an asset that later caused unplanned downtime.

  • 98%

    of facilities have at least one asset that represents a true single point of failure—an asset that could halt distribution or fulfillment operations if it goes down.

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  • 80%

    experienced six or more unplanned downtime events affecting fulfillment, sortation, or distribution operations in the past 12 months, and 98% had at least one.

How frequently do you monitor critical assets?
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“Degradation and failures don't wait to emerge until the next scheduled inspection. If you're only checking assets on a calendar basis, you're guaranteed to miss problems that develop between inspections.”

Luke Grice-Lowe Director of Reliability & Maintenance Programs MultiSensor AI
Who Sees It, Who Doesn't

The Reliability Workforce Gap, and Why Uptime Rarely Reaches the Boardroom

The reliability workforce responsible for condition monitoring and maintenance is stretched thin, and the uptime data they generate rarely reaches the executives who control the budget to close the gap. That disconnect leaves facilities exposed at exactly the moment automation investment is accelerating.

What is your top workforce challenge?
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  • 64%

    of VPs say their facility doesn't track uptime at the executive or board level, despite a major downtime event potentially costing a full year of automation investment.

Get the Complete Picture

This page covers the headline findings. The full 22-page report includes the complete workforce and financial-exposure data, five concrete steps organizations can use to close the reliability gap, and the full survey methodology.

Get the Full Report
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Uptime Economy 2026 Report FAQs

How many unplanned downtime events do distribution and fulfillment operations experience per year?

More than most operators expect. In MultiSensor AI's 2026 survey of 152 reliability practitioners and operations leaders, 98% experienced unplanned downtime in the past year, and 80% had six or more separate events affecting fulfillment, sortation, or distribution operations.

What causes unplanned downtime in distribution centers?

Automation outpacing maintenance readiness is a leading factor. The same survey found 91% of practitioners and VPs had approved or implemented automation their team wasn't ready to maintain, and 97% said automation has increased across their facilities over the past three years, without a matching increase in the ability to keep it running.

How much does unplanned downtime cost a distribution center?

Most operators don't actually know. Only 30% of respondents said they know what a major unplanned downtime event costs their facility per hour. Among VP-level respondents, 95% said the financial impact of a major event would match or exceed their facility's annual automation investment.

Why do reliability teams miss warning signs before equipment failure?

Confidence in detection doesn't match how often teams are actually monitoring. 99% of practitioners are confident they can catch degradation early, yet 83% have missed a warning sign on an asset that later failed, and 82% have dismissed a sensor alert that turned out to be real. Most monitor on a scheduled or calendar-based interval rather than continuously, which leaves gaps between checks.

What percentage of facilities have a single point of failure?

98% of facilities surveyed have at least one asset that represents a true single point of failure, meaning a single asset failure could halt operations. Despite that concentration of risk, most facilities don't prioritize monitoring around those assets specifically.