A replacement part has a price. A stopped extraction operation can affect much more than the repair budget.
To understand cannabis extraction downtime costs, look at the production you missed, the costs that continued, and the extra spending needed to recover. Then check what the interruption changed for incoming material, delivery commitments and customers. Together, those questions give you a clearer picture of the event.
In Evolved’s webinar, Assessing & Avoiding the Cost of Downtime, Matt Erickson and Dustin Powers explain why maintenance and purchasing decisions need this wider view. A component’s price tells you what it costs to replace. The effect of losing it tells you how much attention it deserves before it fails.
What counts as downtime?
Downtime is time when equipment or an operation cannot do the work planned for it. A breakdown is the obvious example, but we have identified other reasons work can stop: a missing delivery, preparation between production runs, or an unresolved document.
Keep planned work separate from unexpected interruptions. Cleaning, maintenance, testing and quality assurance are necessary parts of operating a facility. The useful question is whether the schedule allowed for that work and whether avoidable waiting made it take longer. A batch awaiting release does not necessarily mean the extraction equipment is idle, so record which activity actually stopped.
Start with the production you missed
Record when the interruption started, when normal work resumed, and what could not proceed. Compare that with the production schedule. Which orders moved? Could the team make up the work later? Did another department have to wait?
A delayed order and a lost sale have different consequences. If the customer still received the order, the impact may be a later payment or extra work to catch up. If the sale was lost, there is a different commercial loss to assess. Avoid treating every stopped hour as permanently lost revenue.
Review the incident with production, sales and finance. Use your own operating records rather than a loss-per-hour figure borrowed from another facility. Record what you know and identify estimates separately.
Account for costs that continue
“The fixed overhead doesn’t stop,” says Dustin Powers. Rent, security and other standing costs can continue while equipment is unavailable. If the facility produces less over the month, those costs are spread across fewer finished units. That can put pressure on margins even when the repair itself is modest.
Labor needs the same attention. Some employees may have been unable to do their planned work, while others moved to useful tasks elsewhere. Record what happened instead of assuming the whole team was idle.
Keep these existing costs separate from new spending caused by the incident. When the team calculates the financial impact, agree on which costs each figure includes. Adding payroll or overhead again when it is already included elsewhere can overstate the total.
Look beyond the repair bill
– Lost production
What work did not happen? Was it delayed or lost?
– Costs that continue
Which expenses remained? What work could staff still do?
– Extra recovery spending
Was there overtime or rush freight? What new spending did the event cause?
– Suppliers and customers
Did deliveries or storage plans change? Which commitments were affected?
Review separately. Avoid counting the same cost twice.
Downtime Iceberg
Include the extra work needed to catch up
Getting equipment running again may be only the first step. Matt describes overtime and additional shifts needed to recover the production schedule. The team may also face urgent shipping charges or an extra service visit.
Track those added expenses individually. Note whether the replacement was already a planned purchase or whether the failure created new spending. Work that was recovered without overtime should not be assigned an invented overtime cost.
The effect on people also matters. Repeated schedule changes can make a difficult week harder for the team. Include that in the incident review without turning it into a dollar amount the business cannot support.
Check the effect on suppliers and customers
“You’ve got a certain amount of freezer space, and all of a sudden you’re down for a week or two,” says Matt Erickson. “Where are you putting that biomass?” Incoming plant material may keep arriving even when production stops. The facility may need to rearrange receiving, make room in storage or agree on a new delivery time.
On the customer side, review late shipments, missed commitments and any orders that were canceled. Record actual consequences separately from risks that did not occur. A concern about customer retention deserves attention, but it is not evidence that a customer was lost.
This is why extraction procurement and supply planning should include delivery reliability and communication alongside purchase price.
The pump example: availability changes the decision
Erickson describes a processor that knew a recovery component was nearing replacement. The team expected to order it when needed. When it failed, the usual supplier could not provide it on the expected timeline, and finding another source still left the facility waiting.
The lesson is straightforward: an item being listed by a supplier does not establish when it can arrive. Confirm replacement options and delivery times while the equipment is still available. For a component you cannot reasonably keep on site, discuss expected demand and service options in advance.
Turn the review into one clear action
Choose the next action based on the incident record. That might be stocking an approved spare, setting a reorder reminder, confirming a supplier’s delivery time, or reviewing the maintenance schedule with the responsible team.
Evolved’s parts and accessories support is a place to start that conversation. Bring the equipment details, the part involved and the time lost. A specific account of what happened makes the next decision easier.
