Maintenance

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Overview

Knowlix Maintenance helps operations teams extend the service life of equipment and avoid unplanned production stoppages. Create maintenance requests for corrective repairs and preventive servicing, assign them to specialized teams, track progress through a Kanban pipeline, and analyze equipment reliability using built-in metrics. Key features:

• Equipment registry with failure history and reliability metrics
• Corrective and preventive maintenance request management
• Kanban pipeline for tracking request progress
• Maintenance calendar with daily, weekly, and monthly views
• Work center blocking during active maintenance
• Maintenance team and technician assignment
• Custom worksheet templates for technician instructions

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Setup

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Maintenance Teams

Maintenance teams group technicians who respond to equipment issues. Team assignment on each request routes the work to the right personnel. Navigate to Maintenance > Configuration > Maintenance Teams to view and manage teams. Click New to add a team, enter a team name, and select the users who belong to it. In multi-company environments, assign the team to the appropriate company. Team members are also referred to as technicians in the maintenance calendar and on request forms.

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Equipment Categories

Before adding equipment, create categories to organize assets by type (machinery, computers, tools, vehicles, etc.). Navigate to Maintenance > Configuration > Equipment Categories and click New. Fill in the Category Name, assign a Responsible user, add an optional Email Alias for direct request submission, and add any internal comments. After creation, the category form shows smart buttons linking to all equipment in the category and all associated maintenance requests.

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Equipment Registry

Navigate to Maintenance > Equipment > Machines and Tools to manage all registered assets.

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Adding Equipment

Click New and complete the equipment form: Basic information:

• Name - the asset identifier
• Equipment Category - the category this asset belongs to
• Company - relevant in multi-company setups
• Used By - Department, Employee, or Other (both); additional fields appear based on selection
• Maintenance Team - the team responsible for servicing this asset
• Technician - the specific team member assigned as primary contact
• Used in Location - free-text location for non-work-center assets (offices, warehouses, etc.)
• Work Center - the production work center where the equipment operates

Product Information tab:

• Vendor - supplier the equipment was purchased from
• Vendor Reference - supplier product code
• Model - specific model designation
• Serial Number - unique identifier for this unit
• Effective Date - the date the equipment entered service (used to calculate MTBF)
• Cost - acquisition cost
• Warranty Expiration Date - end of warranty coverage

Maintenance tab (calculated metrics): Expected MTBF is the only field you can set manually. All others update automatically as maintenance records accumulate. To view all open maintenance requests for a specific asset, click the Maintenance smart button at the top of the equipment form.

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Work Centers

Navigate to Maintenance > Equipment > Work Centers to see which equipment operates at each production station. Open a work center and go to the Equipment tab for a list of all assets at that location, along with their MTBF, MTTR, and estimated next failure dates. Add equipment to a work center directly from the Equipment tab by clicking Add a Line.

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Maintenance Requests

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Creating a Request

Navigate to Maintenance > Maintenance > Maintenance Requests and click New. Request form fields:

• Request - a descriptive title (for example, “Conveyor belt motor overheating”)
• Created By - the user submitting the request (defaults to current user)
• For - Equipment or Work Center
• Equipment / Work Center - the specific asset or station requiring attention
• Worksheet Template - optional custom checklist for the technician performing the work
• Request Date - set automatically to today; not editable
• Maintenance Type:
  • Corrective - addresses a current failure or breakdown
  • Preventive - scheduled servicing to avoid future failures
• Manufacturing Order - link the request to a specific production run if the issue arose during manufacturing
• Work Order - available when a manufacturing order is selected
• Team - the maintenance team assigned to handle the request
• Responsible - the specific technician responsible
• Scheduled Date - the planned start date and time
• Duration - expected time to complete the work (hours:minutes format)
• Block Work Center - when checked for work center requests, prevents new work orders from being scheduled at that station during the maintenance window
• Priority - one to three stars indicating urgency

Notes tab: Internal context about why the request was created, when the issue appeared, or relevant history. Instructions tab: Directions for the assigned technician, provided as a PDF attachment, a Google Slides link, or inline text.

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Processing Requests

Open maintenance requests begin in the New Request stage. Move requests through the pipeline by dragging cards on the Kanban board or clicking the stage indicator at the top of the request form. Standard pipeline stages:

• New Request - freshly created, not yet assigned or started
• In Progress - work is underway
• Repaired - the issue has been resolved; equipment is back in service
• Scrap - the equipment could not be repaired and has been removed from service

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Maintenance Calendar

The maintenance calendar provides a time-based view of scheduled and ongoing requests. Navigate to Maintenance > Maintenance > Maintenance Calendar.

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Calendar Views

Switch between views using the navigation controls at the top of the page:

• Calendar (default) - Day, Week, Month, or Year display with Weekend toggle
• Kanban - stage-based columns for drag-and-drop request management
• List - tabular view showing request subject, employee, technician, category, stage, and company
• Pivot - configurable data table with measures for count, duration, and repeat frequency
• Graph - bar, line, or pie chart visualization of request data
• Activity - schedule follow-up activities linked to open requests

The sidebar in calendar view shows a mini calendar and a Technician list displaying all team members with open assignments.

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Creating Requests from the Calendar

Click any time slot to open a new event popup. Enter the request name and click Create for a quick entry, or click Edit to open the full request form and set all details before saving.

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Stage Configuration (Kanban)

Hover over any Kanban column heading and click the gear icon to access column settings:

• Name - the stage label
• Folded in Maintenance Pipe - whether the column is collapsed by default
• Request Confirmed - when enabled for work center stages, automatically blocks the work center for the request’s duration upon confirmation
• Sequence - the order of this stage in the pipeline
• Request Done - marks this as the final stage; requests moved here are closed

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Filters and Saved Searches

Click the search dropdown arrow next to the search bar to access filters. Default active filters show all open (To Do) and active requests. Save custom filter combinations as favorites for quick reuse. Name the search, choose whether it should be your personal default or shared with other users, and click Save.

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Best Practices

Configure preventive maintenance schedules for high-value equipment before failures occur rather than relying on corrective requests. Use the Expected MTBF field to set realistic maintenance intervals based on manufacturer recommendations, then compare against the system-calculated MTBF as data accumulates. Block work centers in maintenance requests when servicing equipment that would otherwise cause production scheduling conflicts. Track warranty expiration dates to ensure repairs are covered before committing to internal repair costs. Review the Estimated Next Failure dates monthly to proactively schedule preventive work during low-production periods. Your Knowlix: “Show me all equipment with maintenance requests due this week” or “Which machines have exceeded their expected MTBF?” or “List all corrective maintenance requests currently in progress” or “What equipment has a warranty expiring in the next 90 days?” or “Show me the average repair time for machinery in the production department” or “Create a preventive maintenance request for the CNC machine scheduled for next Monday”