Workshop Administration - Part 1

Mission Control.

I have covered my commissioning process for new machines in an earlier article so we won't go there again, except to say that to have all machine records of repairs and servicing plus the machine details is very convenient at times. Have a look at the examples below to get a better idea.

You can see all relevant information is there to enable parts to be ordered in the absence of the machine itself, in most cases. It is sometimes necessary to look at a part for positive identification but not that often.

These are laminated and form the opening page of the machines record, the record contains only the more "major" jobs such as servicing, manufacturers modifications as per bulletins, anything I consider to be a weakness on the machine that may occur on others of the same or similar type or where parts are used, that sort of thing. If every small job and adjustment were to be recorded the record would resemble War & Peace and no work would get done in favour of writing, so choose carefully what you write and discard the unnecessary but always record the hour meter reading where clocks are fitted.

I have moved away from writing and on to job cards printed from the computer, I find it much easier. Below are typical examples and these can be saved in a job card folder on the computer. A service for instance is largely the same on whatever machine, on paper at least, in that you are going to change the filters and the oil and so on, already you have a basic job card and only slight modifications are needed from one machine type to another. The same with other tasks, change a drum belt on a Toro 1000 or a Toro 1600 the job is the same, the part number of the belt is the same so use the same job card. All that needs editing is the fleet number, type of machine, the date and hour meter reading, job done.

When you have a Health and Safety inspection these records (and others) may well be asked for and presentation will play a more important role than the inspectors would ever admit to. The thinking being "If it looks right it will probably be right", so put some effort into presentation and organisation of the folder.