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First time fix rate (FTFR) is the share of repair jobs completed at the first visit or intervention, without a follow-up visit: FTFR = jobs completed at the first visit / all completed jobs × 100. IBM describes it as a field service metric and counts a job that needed supplementary parts or external support as not fixed the first time. Maintenance teams inside a plant use the same ratio for work orders on their own machines.
A guide from the maintenance-software vendor MaintainX applies the rule to plant work orders: a return visit for the same failure on the same asset counts against FTFR, and a job closed with the fault only partly fixed does not count, even if the work order shows as complete. This page adds two rules on top: it counts repair cases instead of work orders, and it waits for a follow-up window so that a temporary fix does not count as a first-time fix.
The guideline VDI 2893 covers how maintenance indicators are selected and formed. It does not define FTFR, so the counting rules below are a working definition; write yours down with the same care, including the window.
Count Repair Cases Rather Than Visits
In this example, one case is one recorded fault that requires restoring a production asset. A first-time fix means the first intervention restores the intended function and no recurrence of the same fault appears within an agreed 14-day follow-up window.
| Situation | Counting Decision | Reason |
|---|---|---|
| Part unavailable during first intervention | Not a first-time fix | A further intervention is required |
| Machine temporarily restored, same fault recurs within the window | Not a first-time fix | Closure alone did not establish lasting restoration |
| Different fault occurs later | Separate case if the evidence supports it | The failure mode and cause must be distinguished |
| Follow-up window not yet over | Pending | The result is not yet observed |
Decide how planned follow-up work, remote support and linked work orders count before you calculate a rate, and mark any rule change in the time series. Otherwise a rising rate can come from a new rule instead of better repairs.
Calculate a Fully Observed Cohort
Consider a reporting cohort of 50 repair cases whose follow-up windows have all ended. Forty were resolved at the first intervention and stayed resolved. Six needed a second intervention right away. Four were restarted with a temporary measure, closed, and failed again with the same fault inside the 14-day window.
FTFR = first-time fixes / eligible repair cases × 100 = 40 / 50 × 100 = 80 percent. The denominator is 50 cases, not the number of visits or work orders. Splitting one fault into several administrative orders must not raise the case count unnoticed.
| Counting Rule | First-Time Fixes | FTFR |
|---|---|---|
| Counted when the work order closes | 40 + 4 temporary fixes = 44 of 50 | 88% |
| Counted after the 14-day window | 40 of 50 | 80% |
The same 50 cases give 88 or 80 percent. The eight-point gap is exactly the share of temporary fixes that the window exposes.
Suppose five further recent cases have not completed their window. Report them as pending. Adding them as first-time fixes would give 45 / 55 = 81.8 percent without knowing their outcome.
Interpret Repair Speed Alongside Fix Quality
A short restoration time and a high first-time fix rate answer different questions. A technician may restart a machine quickly with a temporary measure while the underlying fault remains. A successful first intervention can take a long time if access or diagnosis is difficult. Mean time to repair (MTTR) covers the speed side; FTFR covers whether the repair held.
Compare like-for-like fault groups. A shift from simple sensor replacements to intermittent electrical faults can lower FTFR without any change in technician performance. Keep the asset, failure mode and work scope available for review, and judge the rate against your own history under the same counting rule.
Connect Repair Results With Production Stops
Repair records and production stops support the same investigation while describing different events. One repair case may span several stops. One long stop may contain diagnosis, waiting for a part and verification after the repair.
Agree how the records are linked. The production stop needs a time boundary and a reason; the repair case needs its intervention and result. Adding the durations of linked records without checking overlap counts the same lost time twice.
SYMESTIC, a cloud MES, records stops with their reasons per machine and calculates MTBF and MTTR. It is not a maintenance management system (CMMS); stop data can be passed to one through the REST API. The maintenance plan organizes the work that these figures evaluate.
Sources
- IBM Think (Belcic and Smalley, 2026): What is first-time fix rate (FTFR)?
- MaintainX (Jakubowski, 2026): First-Time Fix Rate (FTFR): Definition, Formula, and How to Improve It
- VDI 2893:2019-11: Selection and formation of indicators for maintenance
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