What is an Equipment Maintenance Log Sheet?

An equipment maintenance log sheet refers to a document that shows every kind of maintenance activity that has been performed on a specific asset. In other words, it keeps track of an equipment’s service history. An equipment maintenance log also helps to ensure that the company’s revenue-generating operations are constantly progressing as required without any disruptions. An equipment maintenance log sheet also helps the workers identify the service patterns/intervals of a particular piece of equipment. Detailed maintenance log sheets can help the workers spend less time on overall maintenance, but having too many things being tracked in the log sheet may lead to unnecessary downtime which can lead to lower productivity rates. It is important for the workers to strike the right balance and track the items that are actually useful.

What Are the Parts of an Equipment Maintenance Log Sheet?

Here are the two main parts of an equipment maintenance log sheet; these may vary by company.

What is Equipment Maintenance?

By definition, equipment maintenance refers to the use of various maintenance methods and procedures to keep organizational equipment in good working condition. Equipment maintenance entails both regular inspections and performing corrective fixes on assets. Food service establishments, industrial factories, manufacturing facilities, luxury hotels, and much more have some form of equipment maintenance being practiced. It includes the upkeep of different types of equipment such as computer systems, heavy machinery, computer systems, vehicles, and tools.

What are the Types of Equipment Maintenance?

Here are some of the common types of equipment maintenance strategies along with their explanations:

What are the Benefits of Using an Equipment Maintenance Log Sheet?

A company that is dedicated to taking care of its equipment will always have a good maintenance log sheet. There are numerous benefits to using one, and here are some of them:

It reduces repair costs due to poor maintenance. Equipment is subject to wear and tear, and more so if it is equipment for hire. As a result, it is critical to perform a maintenance check each time a piece of equipment is returned from rent. You can prevent minor damages from being worse by doing this. Each check-up or repair should be documented in the equipment maintenance log sheet. This will ensure that the equipment is consistently in good shape before it is rented out again.Specialized programs for equipment maintenance can be developed. When rented out, the equipment can be subjected frequently to a variety of working conditions. Each of these things may necessitate a different type of maintenance inspection. You must keep track of data from these check-ups all the time. The information gathered may assist you in determining the type of maintenance work required for each piece of equipment.It helps prevent issues concerning warranty claims. When dealing with warranty claims, documentation of maintenance work can be critical. Documenting every kind of maintenance work performed on a piece of equipment is a task that should always be performed right after the maintenance is done. Documenting will include the exact dates and times of the repair, as well as the specific repairs that were performed. This will be extremely useful in evaluating the rights of a business or a company in the event of a warranty claim.Documentation of maintenance work is a vital factor when dealing with warranty claims. Always document all maintenance work on equipment. This will include the exact dates and time of the repairs as well as what repairs were done. This will greatly help in determining the business’s rights for any warranty claims.It improves the safety of the operators and their machinery. In the workplace, well-maintained equipment is less likely to cause accidents. Accidents typically occur as a result of mechanical failures. Typically, it is the operators who bear the burden of such mishaps. Fortunately, mishaps can be prevented in the first place with an effective maintenance log. This document will keep track of the health of the equipment in the same way that a patient’s file does. The type of maintenance that you should undertake will be determined by looking at the equipment’s maintenance log. This is also important to the safety of everyone in the workplace.It helps keep track of the person accountable for machines and equipment. The equipment maintenance log keeps track of all operators who used the machine or the equipment. This is done so it is possible to hold accountable those who may have damaged it during use. This is especially important in case accidents do happen in the workplace as it can serve as a stepping stone to trace the main culprit of the accident.It improves the resale value of your equipment. The resale value of equipment that is well-maintained will always be at a high level as it won’t lose much of its value. Prospective buyers will be able to see the maintenance log as confirmation of its high-maintenance status.It identifies the trends across makes, models, or components. The equipment maintenance log reveals common trends in your equipment, including models, components, manufacturers, operators, and more. A maintenance management solution’s data on equipment maintenance logs reveal what models and manufacturers of certain equipment have the lowest cost per hour of ownership. This insight can help companies know about the parts that are needed to be in stock and to perform replacement and repairs before equipment failure occurs.

How to Implement an Effective Equipment Maintenance Program?

Work can be severely jeopardized if the equipment is not maintained properly. This would be due to machine breakdowns which can prove to be very costly. But with proper maintenance plans or programs in place, work progress will always be right on schedule and any unnecessary delays can be prevented. With that being said, here are the steps on how to implement an effective equipment maintenance program:

1. Create an Inventory of Equipment

Each piece of equipment that will be placed on a proactive maintenance plan should be entered in a CMMS (Computerized Maintenance Management System). There are two reasons why this should be done. First, if you need to create a work order for a specific piece of equipment, the job will be much easier to do if it is already on the CMMS database. The second reason for that would be creating an asset history. This is a big advantage that a CMMS has over manual records and the equipment’s asset history can be accessed from any place that has an internet connection.

2. Select the Maintenance Strategy to be Applied on That Particular Equipment

When you’ve compiled a list of the equipment that needs to be serviced on a regular basis, it is now time to construct a maintenance schedule. But before you do so, you should take some time to consider whatever maintenance strategies are accessible to you. Most of the businesses will begin with a comprehensive preventative maintenance strategy. Purchasing a few sensors for your most vital pieces of equipment, on the other hand, can prove to be a wonderful bonus if your budget allows for it.

3. Create the Equipment Maintenance Schedule

A schedule for equipment maintenance should be the focal point of any equipment maintenance program. It determines which type of maintenance methods should be performed, when they should be performed, and by whom. As such, the maintenance calendar should provide a comprehensive overview of all incoming and ongoing maintenance work. Furthermore, it should provide an easy way to swiftly schedule everyday operations, postpone any maintenance activity, and adjust task priorities with a single click or two.

When you create a preventative maintenance plan for the first time, you can have a look at the OEM manuals and follow the instructions given there. Consulting with technicians should also be done in order to verify if certain assets have any long-standing issues that need to be taken into account. Also, if you are using condition-based maintenance or predictive maintenance, a part of your maintenance schedule will be based on the data gathered from sensors and predictive algorithms.

4. Define the Maintenance Checklists and Procedures

The maintenance process will greatly benefit from standardization as it includes a lot of repetitive tasks that can be carried out on a frequent basis (daily, weekly, or monthly). They can be streamlined by defining the standard operating procedures, the emergency maintenance procedures, the lock out or tag out procedures, the preventive maintenance checklists, and the general safety guidelines.

5. Train the Maintenance Team Accordingly

A plan is good as meaningless if you are unable to properly put it into action. Maintenance technicians should be able to read and comprehend the maintenance plan, as well as have the essential skills to carry out the maintenance operations stated. They must also understand how to use the CMMS and any other digital solutions you’ve put in place. Whenever an organization makes the switch from reactive to proactive maintenance services, they should make extra effort to make sure that all the maintenance personnel is on board with the idea.

6. Analyze and Improve on the Program

It would be a bit arrogant to expect everything to perform flawlessly on the first try. A regular assessment of maintenance performance metrics and other indicators is required to identify and eliminate any form of inefficiencies and faults in your present plan. The maintenance software that you are using (such as the CMMS) should provide you with adequate data to successfully optimize your equipment maintenance schedule over time.

FAQs

What is a CMMS?

A computerized maintenance management system refers to a type of software that centralizes maintenance information and facilitates the process of maintenance operations. It helps optimize the utilization and availability of physical equipment such as vehicles, machinery, communications, plant infrastructures, and other types of assets. These systems can be found in manufacturing, oil and gas production, power generation, construction, and any other types of industries where physical infrastructure is of critical use.

How to keep your Equipment Maintenance Log Sheet updated?

The best method to keep your maintenance log sheet updated is by using a CMMS. This enables the data to be interconnected. While data is encoded in the CMMS only once, it is used in multiple places. To ensure that the data being shared across multiple places is accurate, a good practice would be entering it in a consistent format. However, if you’re still on the manual method of pen and paper, a good practice would be to make a standardized template for each and every asset that you want to track and try to keep these templates as similar as possible. It is also important to have a designated place for where the records are to be kept and to define how the maintenance logs should change hands during a change of shift.

Above everything else, the best practice to keep the maintenance log updated regardless of whether you’re using a CMMS or still on the manual approach is by paying attention to the need for accurate communication of the importance of accurate data entry.

What are Maintenance Procedures?

Maintenance procedures refer to a set of detailed instructions for doing maintenance tasks. Maintenance procedures must be up to date and easily accessible so that the maintenance personnel can follow them precisely. This ensures the reliability and good performance of the equipment.

Equipment maintenance is used across various industries and can prove to be essential in extending the working lifespan of your equipment and keeping it in good working condition. Equipment maintenance log sheets can unlock important insights to help different companies optimize the performance of their assets. In this article, examples of effective equipment maintenance log sheets are available for you to download and use as a reference in case you need to make one for your company.