What is in the template
One row per record; the first row holds the column names and stays as it is. The grey rows are examples to replace or delete. The whole workbook has five sheets (all of them); this page is about the Downtime sheet.
| asset | The code of the machine, as in the equipment list; its name works too. |
|---|---|
| started | When it stopped: a date and time (2025-03-04 08:15), or a date. |
| ended | When it ran again. Leave it empty while the machine is still down: one open stop per machine. |
| reason | breakdown, planned, changeover, no operator, no material, other (a suggestion list), or your own word: an unknown reason is created on import. |
| note | What happened, in a line. |
| work order | The work order that fixed it: its number or your own ref (from the maintenance log). Optional. |
| length (h) | Excel only. ended − started, in hours, by formula. The import ignores it; a minutes or hours column of your own is read when a row has no end. |
How it works in Excel
- Codes stay text. The code columns are formatted as text, so 007 stays 007 and a code with a slash is not turned into a date.
- A header that stays put. Row 1 is frozen and carries a filter, so you can sort by any column and still see the names.
- Drop-downs, not guesswork. Where LineKeeper Up takes a fixed set of words, the cell offers them; the importer also understands the Spanish words (operativo, máquina, semana).
- Hours down by formula. Every row shows the length of the stop; a SUM at the bottom, or a pivot by machine or by reason, is the monthly downtime picture.
- Open stops in red. A row with a start and no end is highlighted: the machines that are down right now stand out, and a stop nobody closed is found.
- Reasons you choose. The five built-in words are suggested; type your own (Waiting for parts, No steam) and keep using it. The import creates it as a reason of the plant.
When the sheet is not enough: into LK Up in three steps
A sheet has no phone on the floor, no QR label on the machine, no photo on a problem report and no reminder that fires by itself. When that starts to hurt, the same file moves into a system in an evening.
- Install LK Up. It is free and runs on your own Mac or Windows PC (download, about half an hour to the first work order). Phones use the web app, offline too.
- Choose the workbook. Reports → Import downtime, pick the file. The Downtime sheet is chosen by its name; the Preview shows each row's action and any problem before anything is written. Columns need no mapping: the sheet's headers are the importer's own.
- Press Import. Then the other sheets, each from its own page: Assets, Parts, People, PM schedules, Work orders, in that order. Importing the same file again updates the records instead of duplicating them (choose «update it from the file»), so you can keep working in Excel for a while and import again.
Why we built it this way
- A stop is a row, not a cell in a calendar. A calendar grid shows a month; a row per stop with a start, an end and a reason can be summed, sorted and filtered, and it is what a system reads.
- The reason is the point. Downtime without a reason is a number; downtime by reason is a list of things to fix. Built-in words for the common cases, your own words for your plant.
- The work order closes the loop. A stop that ends with a repair points at its work order; that is where MTTR and «what did we do last time» come from in the Monday report.
Why it is free. LK Up comes from years of field service in plants that kept their maintenance in a spreadsheet or in nobody's head. The templates are the first step of that road and cost nothing; the system they lead to is free for every person in your plant, with nothing held back, and leaving is as easy as arriving. Missing a column your plant needs? Write to us. What LK Up is →