Matience records

I'm just trying to get some ideas here. We have several trucks,several dump trucks, and lots of equipment. How do you guys keep records. Do you keep up with every oil change, every hydraulic hose break or a busted tire. Do you keep a file for each one or use excel or what. Just trying to get all my ducks Ina row. Thanks

When I was looking after a bunch of iron under the same company full time I used to have a small book with a couple pages per unit. I would have unit and serial number(s) together with filters and "fast movers" parts numbers then service hours and a basic report of any major work done. And don't forget to write hours and date on filters when installed!
Simple way to keep track of what's done and been done.

We actually keep a spread sheet in google sheets. It is our online document accessible any where on the net. We keep all machine data, services, warranty data, and weekly location. I run an ipad in the truck but can also access it by my iphone during the day.

This interests me to I need to get some sort of maintenance records to have looked online for some sort of software but havnt got any of that really yet. caterpillarmech can you post a pic of you sheet how it is set up?

I keep a spread sheet that list all the equipment & parts on one tab, service information on another tab. Someone reads hour meters, I input those hours and the spread sheet spits out a report on what is due for service.
It's all set up in Microsoft Access. I also keep paper files of all work orders. That's a regulation requirement (in these parts) for anything that's licenced to go on the roads.

Access is a data base file and not a spread sheet even though it looks like one. A data base is the way to go as you can make fields up in records anyway you want and provide access to it from multiple ports. I don't care for the Microsoft product and prefer FileMaker Pro instead as it is far easier to set up and it can be changed over time as need be. Excel can be used but there are limitations on what you can get out of it. There are plenty of commercial products available but you have to keep in mind if not a custom set up you end up with either far more that you need and less than what is necessary and all that software is expensive.

GPS with a maintenance module, I know it sounds expensive (we pay $20/machine/month) but it really has streamlined our maintenance program. Hours/mileage is updated automatically, now we entered all the small items from the daily walk around sheets (i.e cracked mirror) that need repair between services, two weeks prior to service a notification is sent, this triggers us to get all the parts/filter etc. ready prior to the service. Notification is sent when it is due and what work is required on that particular unit, we set up a computer in our shop and when the mechanics get the machine a full list of repair items come up and when they complete the work on a machine they check it off as completed, all work/parts are recorded in the maintenance module,. We run 100+ pieces of equipment and continually were late on services, or waiting for parts when a machine came in for service which increase downtime dramatically, or bringing in a machine multiple times as parts come in etc. etc.. Think of it this way if you can get an extra billable hour out of the machine a month, or decreased you mechanics time on a machine you paid for your system. Not to mention the other benefits of GPS with stolen equipment, idle time, fleet tracking etc.

Mdig whose GPS service do u use?
DARO

All,

Thanks for sharing your techniques here. I know I am a little late to this conversation, but ran across it and wanted to share what I had to offer. I grew up working with my dad's construction company, and during so saw a need for equipment maintenance tracking too.

Spreadsheets seem like an easy option, but there are trade offs. You can easily create a spreadsheet of all your equipment with the last oil change date and hour meter reading. Its a little more difficult to create it where you also maintain historical records of all oil changes. Then, when you want to track maintenance in other components it gets more complicated. Also, maybe you want some employees to be able to update certain portions of the sheet and not other portions (user permissions). How do you know if an employee is just entering a bunch of service dates at the end of the month? Are they always entering the last hour meter reading or leaving it blank? Attempting to do all this in a spreadsheet will get messy and is probably impossible. This is why a database powered system creates the best solution.

I know there are many software options out there, but I didn't run across one that seemed like a good, affordable solution, at least for us. We had 50+ pieces of equipment, from trucks of all sizes to tractors and heavy equipment of all ages and makes. Many options are client side software installed on your computer directly and not accessible outside the office, which I didn't like for a few reasons (can be difficult supporting multiple users in different locations, mobile availability, and requires you to maintain software and updates). Also many options were over-complicated for our needs and required a significant investment. I transitioned into programming several years ago, during college, and not knowing of another good solution, I just recently built a web app to keep track of maintenance records that I'm trying to get off the ground now.

My main goals for the app were for it to be flexible for many use cases, simple to setup and use, and affordable with little upfront commitment. If you are at all interested in something like this, please take a look at logaid.com, give it a try and let me know what you think. I'd really appreciate any feedback.

Thanks

This a thread I did on HTF about tracking our services, we have added 5 more tractors and eight more trailers since then. Trailers are T571 and up, tractors start with 397.

http://www.heavytruckforums.com/showthread.php?454-Tracking-services

Truck Shop

We use a much cheaper and simple system, they are called index cards you can buy at any five and dime shop, with a box to hold them. We write on the front and back of the cards, when its full, take another card and keep going on the same machine and put the full card in the back of the box. We keep track of repairs, oil changes and the basics, have had the same box for 30 years now, 5x 7 I think is the size of them and when we get rid of the machine, we toss the cards.

We also do oil sampling of engines, transmissions, finals, about anything, my oil supplier pays for all sampling, so if we use 10 or 100 samples a year or more, the cost to me is nothing, so we sample all hydraulic oil at ever engine oil change just to monitor the fluids we don't change, also gives us a reasonable time line to change hydraulic oils based on sample results between changes. Those reports used to be sent to me and we kept those in a filing cabinet in a folder for each machine, now they are all online, bit more of a pain to access when in the shop, and those we rely on files stored in the computer, or as life has shown me, every time the computer crash's or gets destroyed, most of the data is lost, whereas with a folder in the filing cabinet, records were kept for decades on the same machine to go back and look at when needed.

We also write on all the filters, the date, hours and oil grade put in, for easy reference when on the job and away from the shop.

Records can be as simple or complex as you want, its a personal choice, and its also dependent on how much use a machine gets each year as well, find what works for you and what you like and go from there is my advice. Best of luck