Holiday Downtime Is Your Advantage: Why Now Is the Best Time for Drive Repairs



When production slows during the holidays, most factories take the chance to breathe. The rush lifts, the schedules loosen, and maintenance finally gets that rare window of time when equipment can be taken offline without slowing orders. For any plant running variable frequency drives, servo drives, or spindle drives, this downtime is the perfect moment to send units in for repair.

The truth is simple: if you wait until a drive fails during peak production, it’s already too late.

Repairs During Peak Season Cost More Than Just Money

Drive failures don’t care about production schedules—and they often happen when equipment is working the hardest. When a drive goes down mid-shift, maintenance teams face four bad options:

  • Rush-ship a replacement at premium cost
  • Hunt for refurbished units with unknown history
  • Attempt emergency in-house repairs without proper load testing
  • Disable a full line and miss production deadlines

And in nearly every case, the plant ends up paying twice: once for the immediate fix, and again for the downtime.

Contrast that with a planned drive repair during the holidays: no premium freight, no scrambles, no lost production time. The cost difference is dramatic—not because the repair itself changes, but because the timing does.

Why Drive Repairs Work Best During Holiday Slowdowns

Sending drives in now gives your team a rare strategic advantage:

  • Equipment can be tested and reinstalled without rushing
  • Load-tested drives return ready to run, not “patched for now”
  • No one is forced to choose between running production and preventing a failure
  • You can schedule multiple repairs without disrupting output
  • You start the new year with confidence, not risk

Holiday downtime turns a reactive repair into a planned upgrade.

Not All Drive Repairs Are Equal

The biggest difference between a good repair and a bad one isn’t price—it’s the testing process. A drive that isn’t load-tested can fail again quickly once heat and stress return.

At Delta Automation, every drive repair receives:

  • Full power-on functional testing
  • Dynamic load testing, not just bench tests
  • IGBT, power module, and capacitor evaluation
  • Thermal and component stress testing
  • Cleaning, conformal coating, and fan replacement if needed
  • Updated documentation and failure notes for maintenance records

When a drive returns, it doesn’t just “work”—it works as if it never failed.

The Drives Most Prone to Failure During High Demand

Based on decades of analysis in industrial environments, these drive types show the highest failure rates after long peak runs:

  • Servo drives operating in high-cycle motion applications
  • VFDs controlling pumps, HVAC systems, and constant-torque loads
  • Spindle drives exposed to heat, metal particles, and vibration
  • High-horsepower drives with aging capacitors or cooling issues

If any of these are showing warning signs—fault codes, rising temperature, fan noise, intermittent trips—holiday downtime is the best time to ship them for evaluation.

Holiday Repairs Prevent January–February Emergencies

Factories often hit a surge in the first quarter. The cost of a January failure is higher than December maintenance for one reason:

You're forced to fix problems while making product, not while machines are resting.

Repair now, when machines aren’t on the clock, and you eliminate surprise failures when demand spikes again.

Delta Automation Makes Holiday Repairs Easy

Your team doesn’t need to coordinate full shutdowns or lengthy planning. Simply send in the drives before or during holiday slowdown, and we take care of the rest. Every repair includes:

  • Full evaluation and quote before work begins
  • Industry-leading 1-year repair warranty
  • Load testing, not “component swaps”
  • Emergency options if needed
  • Support for modern and legacy drives

Use Holiday Downtime to Remove Future Risk

If your team already knows which drives need attention, waiting doesn’t make them cheaper—it just makes them more dangerous. Planned repairs during slower weeks eliminate the stress of guessing whether a drive will survive the next production run.

Ready to Schedule Repair During Your Holiday Window?

Send the drive now and return to production with confidence. Delta Automation provides fast turnaround, real engineering testing, and clear documentation—no rushed fixes and no uncertainty.

Request a drive repair evaluation:
https://deltaautomation.com/pages/contact-us

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