Machinery maintenance records

[Trent6930]

Just wondering how everyone is keeping track of Maintenance records? We have been using Microsoft excel for years but there must be better software available now!

 

[mf7480]

I don’t have any answers but that 69 has done you well

 

[melted welly]

about

www.smart-farmer.co.uk

 

[Jim75]

about

www.smart-farmer.co.uk

whats it going to Do for £500 that Excel doesn’t? Genuine question, in the same boat and looking at various options

 

[TripleSix]

whats it going to Do for £500 that Excel doesn’t? Genuine question, in the same boat and looking at various options

We've just started using smart farmer.
Its main purpose is for daily safety checks by employees which it does well via an app.

It has a few niggles being new, and more is being added all the time, but it's looking promising.

 

[Jim75]

We've just started using smart farmer.
Its main purpose is for daily safety checks by employees which it does well via an app.

It has a few niggles being new, and more is being added all the time, but it's looking promising.

ok what I mean is what does it offer other than what a pen and paper version offers. Used to complete paper version daily working for one company but £500/yr for an app is top dollar

 

[melted welly]

ok what I mean is what does it offer other than what a pen and paper version offers. Used to complete paper version daily working for one company but £500/yr for an app is top dollar

I don’t use it myself. The guy who came up with it did so because as a manager he got fed up filling out reams of paperwork for lots of different machines.

The app is for the drivers to fill out daily check sheets which automatically update onto managers computer. therefore to benchmark the value of the app would be for you to put a value on your time spent updating an alternate manual system.

 

[FarmyStu]

If I was doing something for myself as an owner driver, I'd just use excel (cloud based) and fill it in on my phone as I did the job. If I just had 1 or 2 trusted employees I'd do the same, or maybe go for an app to make it easier for them. But if I had a number of employees, casuals etc of differing ages and IT abilities, I think I'd go for pen and paper with a signature at the bottom. Each machine would have a bespoke before use checksheet (generic stuff isn't worth the paper it's written). There's something about having to sign stuff that concentrates the mind of those that would quite happily tick all the boxes without a thought. Finally, I'd include a question along the lines of "Do you feel sufficiently trained and competent to conduct the task which you are about to do?". All with a view of what a worker might say after wiping out a bus load of school kids. None of it is worth it though if you don't enforce completion. It's also worse for you if you don't act on reported faults, as there's a written record.

 

[Andrew]

Set up a separate email address. Tractor reg in the subject line. Photo of the repair. Automatically time and date stamped, anyone can add to it, easily searchable.

 

[bitwrx]

Set up a separate email address. Tractor reg in the subject line. Photo of the repair. Automatically time and date stamped, anyone can add to it, easily searchable.

Google forms works well for this. You can add as many 'questiins' as you want, and the answers can include photo uploads.

I have a form for defects, which allows you to categorise the defect two ways:
1 for urgency, from 'only just started not fail' to 'already fallen to pieces'
2 for seriousness, from 'just annoying' to 'could kill someone'.

Stopped using it now because now I'm on top of the defects, a whiteboard works just as well.

Great for logging things though.

 

[Andrew]

As an aside, for recording inspections, there is an app called iAuditor. On there are two templates I've made - if you search for 'Agricultural Trailer / Trailed Appliance' or 'Agricultural Moving Vehicle'.

These are quite detailed check sheets for implements / machines, and are quite easy to use. When you finish the report you can email it as a PDF etc as well for record keeping.

 

[Chae1]

We just have a diary in workshop. Date, hours and machine. Plus what job was done.

Write hours and date on filters when changed. Have a card in cab too

 

[Trent6930]

I don’t have any answers but that 69 has done you well

Very happy with it, hoping the new m series are just as good

 

[Ali_Maxxum]

I thought I was doing well just recording the services on our 2 that I keep in the operators manuals.....

 

[RH15LEW]

Very happy with it, hoping the new m series are just as good

Remember doing a 24hr shift on her in Maize harvest 2012, some bus she was!

 

[Clive]

about

www.smart-farmer.co.uk

That looks a lot like the merit gold check app which is free ?

 

[Clive]

We've just started using smart farmer.
Its main purpose is for daily safety checks by employees which it does well via an app.

It has a few niggles being new, and more is being added all the time, but it's looking promising.

try the merit gold one - save yourself £500 a year ! We have just starting using it and am impressed

 

[Trent6930]

Remember doing a 24hr shift on her in Maize harvest 2012, some bus she was!

Old school is still cool, T40 is still in the yard. Just clicked over 17,000 hours a few weeks ago

 

[Trent6930]

Thanks for all the ideas. I have decided to try google forms. Have made a basic form for office staff to fill out then it will be automatically loaded into google sheets like my excel spreadsheet. This is accessible on all mobile devices aswell and that will be handy. We like the computer based systems as it’s a more reliable way of keeping the service history as before we recorded it in manuals and a notebook in the workshop that could never be found.

 

[RH15LEW]

Old school is still cool, T40 is still in the yard. Just clicked over 17,000 hours a few weeks ago

I was speaking with Garry a week or two ago and he said she was nearly up there! Remember her hitting 10,000 when we were there! Should come out for a 10 year anniversary really!