As industries rely more on automation, even brief power problems can significantly impact production. For example, in 2025, a plastic manufacturer in Italy experienced more than 600 power disturbances each year that were short enough to be considered acceptable under a general power-quality standard, yet still caused production stoppages and nearly $223,000 in annual losses. A 2025 peer-reviewed study surveyed industrial companies in Lithuania and discovered that one company lost $5,500–$8,900 per dangerous voltage sag, while another lost an estimated $25,300 per hour at full production efficiency.

For United States and worldwide manufacturers, power isn’t always perfect. It’s vital for companies to understand their power, identify the equipment that absolutely cannot go down, and ensure it is properly protected. By knowing what is critical and what happens if power is lost, organizations can take steps to keep five seconds of bad power from becoming five hours of lost production.

The effects of one-, five-, and thirty-second power interruptions

A one-millisecond interruption might reset a controller. A five-second interruption could shut down the whole plant. As a result, the lights may come back on, but operators need to figure out where everything stopped and safely restart the entire process, resulting in costly downtime. The real issue isn’t always how long the power was gone. It’s how long the process takes to recover.

For example, suppose a line generates $10,000 worth of product an hour. A five-second power interruption might trigger a two-hour shutdown, potentially costing $20,000 in lost production. If the company scraps $5,000 worth of material, spends another $2,000 on labor and overtime, and misses a production target or shipment, that five-second event may become a $25,000 or $30,000 event. This cascading effect is why the U.S. Department of Energy estimates that power outages cost American businesses around $150 billion yearly. These numbers make it imperative that companies identify their critical equipment and take steps to protect it.

Identifying the systems most vulnerable to short interruptions

The first step is for companies to examine the equipment that controls the production line, like programmable logic controllers (PLCs), computers, network switches, human-machine interfaces (HMIs), drives, robots, and control systems. This equipment is often the most sensitive to short power interruptions. For example, a large motor may keep spinning during a brief voltage drop, but the small control system running it can shut down almost immediately. Sometimes the problem isn’t the big piece of equipment but a small control or power supply that shuts down the entire machine. 

Often, the best way to identify this essential equipment is to walk the production line and ask, “What happens if this piece of equipment loses power for even a second?” Then, work backward and ask, “What happens if a control resets, a network goes down, or a drive trips?” Answering these questions helps identify the vital points where an uninterruptible power supply (UPS) or other power protection could prevent a shutdown.

Another step is to talk with the team running the equipment. Operators and maintenance teams understand what happens when equipment goes down. They may say, “Every time this machine shuts down, it takes two hours to get the line running again.” That information helps the company determine what really needs protection. Once the vulnerable equipment is identified, it is time to consider possible solutions to the power supply issue. 

Power-protection strategies to minimize restart and recovery time 

The entire production line may not need backup power. In many applications, backing up the entire production line would be unnecessary and expensive. The priority may be keeping the controls, communications, and other pivotal parts of the system running so the process doesn’t completely shut down. 

Companies can also assess what their machines need to keep running and what those systems depend on. Once companies answer these questions, they can identify the true critical load instead of trying to put the entire factory on an expensive UPS.

Being proactive about power

Don’t wait until equipment starts shutting down before looking at the power. Backup power and power quality are different. A UPS or a generator can help during an outage, but companies also need to consider the power quality their equipment receives every day.

Start by identifying essential equipment, how it handles short interruptions, and how quickly the generator takes over. Track when problems happen and compare those times with what was happening with the power. Ultimately, the goal isn’t just to have backup power. It’s to provide clean, reliable power every day and backup power when needed.

A UPS provides immediate backup, a generator handles longer outages, and an isolation transformer or power conditioner helps provide cleaner, more stable power. Together, these three power-protection and power-quality solutions help manufacturers stay online and maintain uptime. 

It’s also important to understand the difference between backup power and power quality. 

Sometimes it’s not practical to keep the whole process running. A UPS can be crucial for keeping the system’s brain powered. A large motor might shut down, but if the UPS keeps the controls, computers, and communications online, the system still knows what happened and where everything stopped. That can make recovery faster and easier. Protecting those critical controls can prevent a much bigger shutdown and make recovery smoother. The UPS solution needs to work with the machine’s existing safety systems.

Electricity is now an essential part of production

Manufacturers today need to think of electricity as part of the production process, not simply as a utility bill. If compressed air changes during production, it is investigated. If raw materials change, they are investigated. If a process temperature changes, it is investigated. Yet when a machine randomly resets or a computer locks up, employees assume it’s just a machine glitch. Few investigate the power. It’s vital for power to be part of that troubleshooting conversation, too. 

Companies need to start that conversation now, not after the power goes down, because that is the most expensive time to ask those questions. It’s imperative for companies to begin monitoring their power and identifying single points of failure. By understanding their production process, they can proactively create solutions for power disasters.