A History Card for Every Machine
A list of your machines, and for each one a history card: every breakdown and every preventive service, newest first, with what was wrong, who attended it, what was done, how long the machine was down, the spares used and what it cost. It is the record that tells you whether a machine is worth keeping.
Switched on for your company on request. Contact us to use it
How to use it
Add each machine with its number and name; the make, capacity, year and serial number are optional. Whenever it breaks down or is serviced, add an entry to its card: the date, whether it was a breakdown or preventive maintenance, the nature of the work, who attended, the cause and the action taken, the downtime as a number of hours, days, weeks or months, the spares, and the cost. Attach the service report. A mistake in an entry is corrected in place; entries are never deleted.
An example card
Four entries on an illustrative CNC turning centre, newest first, put through the same code that stores and shows a real card:
Example history card: machine 3, a CNC turning centre
| Date | Kind | Nature of work | Attended by | Cause and action | Downtime | Spares | Cost |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 03/Oct/2026 | Breakdown | Spindle not reaching set speed | Maintenance fitter · Machine maker's service engineer | Drive belt worn. Belt replaced, tension set, spindle run at all speeds. | 6 hours | Drive belt | Rs. 4,850 |
| 01/Sep/2026 | Preventive maintenance | Quarterly service | Maintenance fitter | Slideways lubricated, way covers cleaned, coolant changed, chuck greased. | 3 hours | Coolant, grease | AMC |
| 16/Jun/2026 | Breakdown | Turret not indexing | Machine maker's service engineer | Indexing sensor faulty. Sensor replaced under warranty. | 2 days | Proximity sensor | UW |
| 23/Mar/2026 | Breakdown | Coolant pump not delivering | Maintenance fitter · Motor rewinding shop | Pump motor winding burnt. Motor rewound and refitted. | 1 day | Motor rewinding | Rs. 2,600 |
Costs were typed as “Rs.4850/-”, “₹2,600”, “AMC” and “UW”. The card keeps the amount as a number and the contract or warranty as a note, so nothing pretends a warranty repair cost Rs. 0.
What each column means
- Date and Kind
- When it happened, and whether it was a breakdown or preventive maintenance. The card counts both: “4 entries · 3 breakdowns, 1 preventive”.
- Attended by
- Your own employee, an outside contact from your directory, someone typed in, or any mix of them.
- Cause and action
- What was found and what was done, in as many words as it takes.
- Downtime
- A number and a unit, so it can be added up later rather than read from sentences.
- Spares
- What was fitted or used.
- Cost
- An amount, a note such as AMC or UW, or both. A repair under contract or warranty is recorded as such, not as Rs. 0.
What else a machine carries
Besides its card, each machine keeps its number, make, capacity, year and serial number, and a rate, per hour or a flat amount per piece, that is used when a part is costed. A step in a part's routing can name the machine it runs on, so the part's costing uses that machine's rate and the in-process inspection sheet for that step prints its machine number. Numbers sort the way a shop counts them: 3, 4, 10, 10A, 23.
What an auditor looks for (ISO 9001:2015, clause 7.1.3)
- The machines that make the product are known and identified.
- They are maintained, and there is a record of the maintenance.
- Breakdowns are recorded with their cause and the action taken.
- Repeated failures are visible, so they can be acted on rather than repaired again and again.
- For automotive suppliers, IATF 16949 clause 8.5.1.5 asks for planned maintenance and records of it.
How it helps
- The whole history of a machine on one card, not spread across registers and service reports
- A repeated breakdown is obvious when the entries sit together
- A machine with history can be marked obsolete instead of deleted, so its record stays
- Service reports kept with the entry they belong to
What it does and does not cover
- It does not plan preventive maintenance or remind anyone when a service is due. It records what was done.
- It does not add up downtime or cost across entries or machines yet, or work out figures such as mean time between failures.
- Spares are written as text, not taken from stock.
- There is no spreadsheet import. Each machine is added once, and past entries can be added to its card.
Good to know
Can a machine be removed?
A machine with no history can be deleted. One with history is marked obsolete instead, which keeps its card and takes it out of the default list.
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