They're in the way and it's difficult to see the recipe the machine has in it.
Machine alerts appear in the center of machines, which can block the recipe information displayed when detailed info is enabled. Some, like "No power", flash on and off so you can usually see the recipe, but others like an item request ghost can make it a pain to quickly see what products a machine should be making
Perhaps this alert could flash as well, maybe as the ratio n/(n+1) , where n is the number of flashing alerts on a machine (so, for example, a no power alert would flash for a third of the time, as would the missing item request and no alert), or just have it be offset somewhere so that the recipe is always visible.