Maintenance Tool

Why this tool?

Downtime costs the most and is the least well documented. In practice, this information is scattered across a whiteboard, a group chat, an Excel file and the memory of the engineer who happened to be there. By the end of the year, it is no longer possible to work out which machine has been out of action for the longest, what the cause was, or whether that maintenance interval is actually correct.

This is rarely down to a lack of willingness. It’s because the log is entered on a PC located two halls away, and by the time that’s done, the engineer is already on to the next machine. That’s why Maintenance Tool works just as well on a phone or tablet as it does on a desktop. The report is submitted right where the fault is, with a photo attached straight away, and signing off a task doesn’t require a detour to the office. It simply runs in the browser, so there’s nothing to install and nothing to update on the devices themselves.

Maintenance Tool records that chain of events at the very moment the work is carried out. A fault is linked to a machine and to the specific component that was actually faulty. The downtime has a start and end time. The repair has a cause, a person who carried it out and photographs. As a result, reporting is not a matter of filling in forms after the event, but simply a summary of what has already been entered.

How it works

From fault report to clearance. Someone reports the fault, specifying the machine, sub-assembly, priority and photos, and initiates the downtime. A technician is assigned and begins work, at which point the status changes to ‘In progress’. Upon completion, the technician records the cause, the work carried out and the completion time, and indicates whether cleaning is required. If so, a separate cleaning task is created for an operator. Only once this has been signed off is the machine released. Every step leaves a trail that you can later view in the machine report.

Preventive maintenance. A maintenance definition describes recurring tasks: the interval, instructions, next due date and person responsible. The scheduler creates tasks based on this and flags up anything that is overdue. Completed work is stored as a separate event, so a new round never overwrites the history. If actual practice consistently deviates from the set interval, this is flagged as a recommendation. You decide whether to accept it.

Roles. The administrator, maintenance manager, technician and operator each have their own interface and their own buttons. Access rights are not only hidden within the interface but are also verified on the server side for every restricted action.

Also included

• Planning with preventative maintenance, follow-up tasks and manual tasks all in one place, with overdue work given priority.
• Photos for each step, up to 20 per upload, categorised by fault, diagnosis, repair and result.
• Backup and restore of the database and attachments in a single file, with a safety backup taken before a restore is carried out.
• Archiving rather than deleting, so that machines, sub-assemblies and former users remain identifiable in the existing history.
• Six languages (Dutch, English, German, French, Spanish and Polish), configurable per user, with entered machine data and notes remaining untranslated.
• System status showing whether the database, storage, migrations, scheduler and backups are in good working order.

What it isn’t

This is deliberately not an ERP system. It does not include stock management, procurement, time tracking or invoicing. The tool does one thing: it records what happens to your machines and makes that information accessible. Anything that doesn’t contribute to this has been left out, because every extra field is a field that won’t be filled in on the shop floor.

It’s also not a service that runs on my servers. You install Maintenance Tool on your own server, which means your machine, fault and maintenance data remain within your own environment. No compulsory cloud, no monthly subscription, no supplier holding your data. You pay a one-off fee for the licence and, optionally, an annual fee for updates.

Nor are there any sensors or links to the control system. The input comes from people, and the tool is designed to ensure that this input is quick and easy: a short title, the correct machine, a photo attached – and that’s it.