Most plants have a register; almost none have read it as a whole. Here is what it reliably tells you, what it only hints at, and what it cannot say.
Reliable
Which machines fail most, which components, and whether failures cluster by season or by shift. Rank by hours lost, not by count: the machine that fails rarely but for two days is the one to watch.
Hints
Causes. Register causes are written by whoever was on duty and reflect the fix more than the root. Read the free-text notes; the pattern is often in a recurring phrase.
Cannot say
Anything about the days the machine ran fine. For prediction you need the non-events too, which is why production records join the register in every project we do.
Start here
Put the register in one sheet, one row per event, with a consistent machine code, a start and end time, and the component. That alone usually produces a surprise at the next management meeting.