Tackling Rising Instrument Service Costs and Managing Downtime with PPMS

Rising service costs and equipment downtime are putting increasing strain on research budgets and productivity. With maintenance fees climbing and instruments growing more complex, core facilities and research labs need smarter ways to manage service contracts, track incidents and protect uptime.

Stratocore

Instrument maintenance and service contracts represent a major share of infrastructure operating costs for many research organisations. A recent survey reported that annual maintenance expenses for imaging and flow cytometry equipment typically range from US $10,000 to $25,000 per instrument, depending on type and complexity.

Meanwhile another international study of 146 flow cytometry facilities found that newer instruments such as analysers and sorters cost even more to maintain than older models. In other surveys 73% of laboratory professionals identified unplanned downtime as a leading factor limiting productivity, while 67% ranked instrument maintenance among their top five operational challenges.

As service and consumable costs rise with each generation of technology, managers across academia, institutes, pharma and biotech face tighter budgets and growing pressure to justify costs. With equipment fleets becoming more complex, maintaining uptime without overspending has become a universal challenge. Many research facilities are turning to data-driven tools to gain visibility into their instrument performance and make informed, evidence-based decisions about maintenance and service agreements.

The Value of Tracking Maintenance and Service Costs

Service and maintenance contracts represent large, recurring expenses that can fluctuate throughout the year depending on instrument use, funding cycles and renewal schedules. When utilisation dips, these fixed costs can quickly create imbalances in a facility’s budget.

Tracking this information provides more than financial oversight. By linking maintenance records, downtime and usage data, facilities can spot under-performing instruments, evaluate service contracts and plan replacements based on evidence rather than estimation.

For example, one global pharma organisation used analytical insights to identify under-utilised instruments and refine maintenance schedules, boosting uptime while cutting service expenditure.

Stratocore's PPMS platform enables evidence-based management for research infrastructure. With centralised visibility into incidents, maintenance and utilisation, it empowers core facilities and research labs to make strategic decisions about reliability, maintenance and investment, ensuring every instrument delivers maximum research value.

Tracking Downtime and Lost Revenue

At The Salk Institute, Julie Auger, Executive Director of Research Operations, uses PPMS’s incident and downtime tracking capabilities to record every equipment failure and quantify the financial impact of lost time.

“Since COVID, service costs have increased to 15–20% of the purchase price of equipment. The rule of thumb has always been 10%, but our institution couldn’t support that higher service rate. We use Stratocore’s incident and downtime tracking tool to monitor lost revenue, which helps when renegotiating contracts.” Julie Auger, The Salk Institute, ABRF Annual Meeting, 2024

By capturing precise data on incidents and downtime, research organisations like Salk turn operational information into strategic value, using evidence to negotiate better terms and assess the return on maintenance investments.

Measuring Uptime and Setting Service KPIs

At Leiden University Medical Center (LUMC), Marjolijn Hameetman, Flow Cytometry Core Facility Operational Manager, takes this approach one step further. Her team uses PPMS to monitor equipment uptime and ensure service providers deliver on their commitments.

“We track our instrument downtime with PPMS and discuss these stats with vendors when negotiating contracts. We set KPIs with vendors and they have to pay a fine if uptime falls below 90%.” Marjolijn Hameetman, Leiden University Medical Center, ABRF Annual Meeting, 2024

This data-driven approach helps research facilities hold vendors accountable, measure performance objectively and ensure that service contracts deliver value.

Data that Drives Smarter Decisions

According to Stratocore’s user surveys, about one-third of PPMS customers have renegotiated maintenance contracts using PPMS data, while another 43% would consider using it for this purpose (PPMS User Survey, 2023). Accurate downtime and maintenance tracking are not only operational tools but negotiation assets.

By integrating downtime and maintenance information in one platform, PPMS gives teams a clear picture of instrument performance and contract value. This transparency helps facilities shift from reactive maintenance to proactive asset management, improving both financial and operational outcomes.

Managing Downtime and Repairs with PPMS

Beyond contract management, PPMS provides a comprehensive framework for maintenance, incident and downtime tracking that helps research organisations minimise downtime and extend equipment life.

Some key capabilities include:

Incident logging and prioritisation: Report, assign and track issues through resolution
Maintenance scheduling: Plan internal or third-party interventions
Downtime tracking: Timestamped audit trails for full visibility into instrument use and availability
Maintenance history reporting: Get reports to Analyse trends and identify recurring issues
Performance insights: Evaluate instrument reliability and service effectiveness

With these tools, research facilities can manage all aspects of maintenance in one place, improving efficiency, accountability and long-term reliability across their equipment fleets.

From Visibility to Strategy

As servicing costs continue to rise, centralised data has never been more valuable. PPMS enables research organisations to track downtime, monitor service quality and negotiate based on evidence rather than estimates.

By combining operational visibility with strategic insight, PPMS helps research organisations to make smarter decisions about maintenance, reliability and investments, ensuring that every instrument contributes its full research value. From maintenance planning to long-term asset performance, PPMS empowers teams to manage their research infrastructure with confidence.

Discover more about how PPMS can help reduce downtime, manage instrument maintenance and strengthen service strategies → https://stratocore.com/solutions/research-infrastructure-management