What Details Does an Equipment Maintenance Log Include?

Equipment maintenance logs essentially provide a detailed summary of your maintenance efforts. Whenever you suspect an asset is facing a maintenance-related issue, you can refer to the maintenance logs to troubleshoot the problem and find the root cause.

In this guide, we explain the meaning of equipment maintenance logs, the details they include and the benefits of using a computerized maintenance management system (CMMS) to centralize maintenance logs. Let’s dive in.

What Is an Equipment Maintenance Log?

An equipment maintenance log is a document used to track maintenance activities. It provides details like the time and purpose of a maintenance task and who performed it. Maintenance logs help monitor maintenance schedules and ensure that assets are in optimal condition. It also enables managers to troubleshoot when there’s a problem with any asset.

Suppose you have a fleet of forklifts at your manufacturing plant. One day, a forklift breaks down unexpectedly. Your production has halted, and it’s costing you money. A quick review of the maintenance log shows the maintenance team missed a routine check two months earlier.

The forklift maintenance inspection would have revealed that the forklift’s brake pad needed to be replaced and would have prevented the problem. Instead, this simple oversight snowballed into a preventable disruption.

This is the type of situation when equipment maintenance logs come in handy.

Components of an Equipment Maintenance Log

Equipment maintenance logs provide more than just basic details about maintenance tasks. Here are the core components to include in your equipment maintenance logs:

General Asset Information

Maintenance logs include the following details that help identify assets at your facility:

• Location: Where the equipment is physically located, especially helpful if you have multiple facilities
• Manufacturer and model: Helps track specific parts, performance data and warranty information
• Serial number: A unique number used to identify each piece of equipment
• Date of purchase and price: Useful for calculating depreciation, maintenance costs and budgeting for future replacements

List of Maintenance Activities

This is the most critical piece of information in maintenance logs and includes:

• Dates of performed maintenance: The date when the last maintenance task was performed helps schedule future inspections or repairs
• Description of task: A summary explaining maintenance work performed on an asset
• Contact information of the technician who completed the task: The go-to person to contact if another issue comes up related to the task they performed
• Request creator: Helps establish accountability, especially when the task was initiated via an external work order

Additional Comments & Documentation

Additional comments and documentation provide additional context for future maintenance tasks. Here’s what they might include:

• Work procedures: Detailed instructions or protocols to follow for specific maintenance tasks
• Manufacturer recommendations: Tips and best practices recommended by the manufacturer to keep assets in optimal condition
• Photos: Pictures offer visual evidence of repairs and issues, making troubleshooting easier in the future

Factors to Consider When Creating an Equipment Maintenance Log

Creating equipment maintenance logs isn’t that complex — you need basic information that’s generally easily available. However, here are some important factors to consider:

• Standardize equipment maintenance logs: A standardized template makes it easier to quickly scan and understand maintenance history and reduces the chance of overlooking critical details. Using a consistent format simplifies reporting and auditing since you’re not dealing with a mishmash of formats.
• Make accessing the logs easier: Equipment logs are no good if you or your maintenance team can’t access them when necessary. Make them easily accessible with a CMMS. Mobile access is a big plus here because it allows the maintenance team to reference or modify logs on the go, so make sure you choose a mobile-friendly CMMS software.
• Train the team to use logs effectively: Train your team to communicate progress through equipment maintenance logs. Start with an introduction of the log structure and explain each section. Show them how to document routine checks, flag issues and record completed tasks.

Benefits of an Equipment Maintenance Log

An equipment maintenance log is essentially a list of maintenance tasks with details. Even so, it offers a range of benefits for the person managing facility maintenance. Here are the key benefits:

• Reduces unexpected maintenance costs: If you see performance going downhill or other signs indicating a possibility of failure in maintenance logs, schedule preventive maintenance. This proactive approach to maintenance helps minimize costly emergency maintenance and repairs as well as reduces unscheduled downtime.
• Increases accountability: When everyone from operators to technicians logs their work, there’s transparency over who did what and when. This improves efficiency and encourages responsibility among team members.
• Helps make informed decisions regarding asset repairs versus replacement: Look at the frequency, severity and cost of repairs and ask yourself: Should you repair a piece of equipment or cut your losses and invest in a new one? Rising repair costs and more frequent breakdowns could indicate that the asset is nearing the end of its useful life and needs to be replaced.
• Validates warranty claims: Manufacturers require proof that you maintained the equipment according to guidelines outlined in the warranty. Equipment maintenance logs offer concrete evidence that you met your end of the deal with a detailed record of every inspection, service and repair.
• Enhances workplace safety: Monitoring maintenance schedules through maintenance logs and preventing a backlog can minimize the risk of injuries. That’s exactly why some regulations mandate maintenance logs. For example, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) mandates keeping records of maintenance work performed and other details.
• Extends asset lifespan: Identifying patterns that signal an underlying issue in equipment allows you to take corrective action before a small issue turns into a major problem. Fixing these issues in time optimizes performance and increases the asset’s lifespan.
• Improves equipment resale value: Maintenance history shows potential buyers that the asset was well cared for. This can help you get a better deal whenever you decide to sell the asset.

How a CMMS Can Help Centralize Your Equipment Maintenance Logs

Logging maintenance entries on paper or into an Excel sheet is a prehistoric phenomenon — there’s no standard template, centralization or access control. Modern businesses use a CMMS because it allows technicians to log maintenance tasks in real time using their mobile devices and without intervention from managers.

Here’s why you should centralize maintenance logs with a CMMS:

• Automated data recording: Technicians can check tasks off the to-do list assigned by the maintenance manager using a CMMS. When they do, the CMMS records their activities automatically, so there’s near-zero manual work.
• Easy access to asset history: There’s no need to sift through a pile of papers or search spreadsheets. A CMMS allows you to access asset history with just a few clicks and from any device with an internet connection.
• Better accountability: A CMMS automatically records details of the assignor and assignee for every task. This ensures accountability and makes it easier to find the person responsible for overlooking a maintenance task or using incorrect procedures.
• Less paperwork: You don’t need physical papers to create maintenance logs. A CMMS can create extensive logs that include all necessary details, and it does most of it automatically.
• Improved preventive maintenance scheduling: You can create a maintenance schedule on a CMMS and put it on autopilot. Whenever a work order becomes due, the CMMS triggers an automated alert for the assigned technician, who in turn can mark the work order as complete once they’re done.
• Ability to include procedure documents, images and videos: Documents, images and videos offer additional context. For example, if a technician notices that multiple oil filters need to be replaced after a few months, they can make a note of it in the maintenance log and add an annotated image to help the next technician identify those specific oil filters.