Meter readings: the forklift's hours, recorded and in plain sight

Some machines do not age by the calendar but by use: a forklift working double shifts needs its service before the one that barely leaves the warehouse. Meter readings are the way to have that written down, and to make it work on its own.

What a meter is

Any value that gets recorded regularly on an asset. Each company defines its own meters in Settings, with a name and a unit, and assigns them to the assets that need them. There are two kinds:

  • Cumulative counters: they only go up. Hour meter hours, a van's mileage, the cycles of a press. The application rejects a reading lower than the previous one, so the most common slip when typing with gloves on is stopped at the door.
  • Point measurements: they go up and down. The temperature of a cold room, the pressure of a boiler, an oil level.

Recording a reading, standing at the machine

Readings are recorded from the asset sheet, built for the phone: scan the QR code on the machine, type the value, done. Each meter shows its latest readings with the increment since the previous one (how many hours the machine has worked since the last entry) and a trend chart, with the full history one tap away. A reading can also be recorded while closing a work order, so the technician does not have to go back for it.

An asset sheet in onCMMS on a phone, with hour meter readings and their chart
Hour meter readings on the asset sheet, with the increment and the chart.

Preventive maintenance by running hours

This is the payoff: a PM plan can be triggered by meter instead of by calendar. "Service every 250 running hours": every night, the application compares each asset's readings with its last service and, when the counter has advanced the set amount, it generates the work order on its own, with its checklist and its technician. Each asset moves at its own pace inside the same plan: the double-shift forklift gets serviced before the spare one, with nobody keeping count.

A meter-based PM plan in onCMMS, showing each asset's counter status
The "every 250 hours" plan: each asset with its counter and how much is left.

When you create a meter-based plan the application does not generate an immediate work order even if the counter already reads thousands of hours: it sets the starting point at the current reading and counts from there.

Who can record readings?

Administrators, supervisors and technicians, from the asset sheet. The catalogue of meters (what is recorded and in which unit) is defined by the administrator in Settings.

What if I type the wrong value?

The latest reading can be deleted and entered again; a technician can only delete their own. Earlier readings are not touched, so the history and the increments keep adding up, and every deletion is logged.

Can a temperature trigger preventive maintenance?

No. Meter-based triggering only accepts cumulative counters. A value that goes up and down says nothing about how much the machine has worked; to keep an eye on temperatures there is the chart and, if something is wrong, a plain maintenance request.

Screenshots show the current interface, which is in Spanish. An English interface is on the roadmap; read where it stands.

Keep reading

Preventive maintenance that does not depend on anyone remembering Schedule recurring inspections per asset and frequency. onCMMS generates the work orders on the day they are due, with checklist and technician, on working days only. Assets and QR codes: the history stuck to the machine Record each asset with its sheet, location and history, and print its QR label. Scanning it opens the asset page and lets anyone report a problem without an account. Manufacturing and workshops: every stop costs money Maintenance software for plants and workshops: history per machine, repair times recorded on the floor, PM by calendar or running hours, and MTTR on corrective work.

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