Report a machine problem in 30 seconds

LK Up guide · for maintenance managers · 6 min read

The operator who sees the leak first is the one who never reports it, because reporting means finding a terminal, a login and a form. LK Up puts a QR code on the machine instead: scan, say what is wrong, add a photo, done. Here is why that matters and how to set it up.

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Free maintenance system on your own Mac or Windows PC · phones use the web app, offline too · the user manual

Why it matters

Most downtime is not a surprise to the people on the floor. Somebody heard the bearing on Tuesday, somebody saw the drip on Wednesday, and the failure on Friday was reported by the line stopping. The record never got made because making a record cost more than the operator had: a walk to the office, a login they do not have, a form that asks for an asset number they do not know.

A report that takes thirty seconds and no account gets made. A report that arrives with the machine already identified, a photo and the time gets acted on. That is the whole design goal of this part of LK Up.

How it works in LK Up

  1. Turn it on. An administrator ticks Accept problem reports without sign-in under Settings → Organization and adds the plant's logo. Nothing else changes for signed-in users.
  2. Print the posters and labels. A manager presses Print poster… for a site or a location: one sheet with a QR code and the plant's name for the wall. Every machine also has its own QR label (Assets → Print labels, Avery 5160 or 50 × 25 mm thermal), and a line or area label opens the place with its machines for the case when the operator cannot name the machine.
  3. Anyone scans. The phone's camera opens a public page in English or Spanish, no sign-in: What is wrong?, Is the machine stopped?, the asset already chosen from the label, up to three photos, and an optional name and phone or email. The reporter gets a number such as REQ-12.
  4. Duplicates merge themselves. When the machine already has an open report, the page says so and offers I see it too instead of a second report. Two operators, one record.
  5. A stopped machine starts the clock. Tick Is the machine stopped? and the request is marked critical and the asset's downtime begins at that moment, with the reason the operator picked. The downtime report (the Monday report) is built from these stamps, not from memory.
  6. Maintenance triages. New reports appear on the manager's dashboard under To triage and in Requests → New: accept it as a work order, merge it, or reject it with a reason (from a request to a work order). A category can name a responsible person who hears about it first; an automation rule can route by machine or site.
  7. Close the loop. When the work order is done, the reporter is asked Did it help? in the app or by email. A No with a note opens a follow-up request linked to the work that was done. The answers add up in Reports, by machine and by technician.
After a scan: the machine page with Report a problem, the reports already open on it and I see it too
On a phone: an asset opened from its QR label, Report a problem one tap away

Why we built it this way

  • No account for the reporter. Operators, contractors and the night shift will not install an app or remember a password to tell you about a drip. A public page with a QR code is the lowest bar we could find; a name and a contact are optional, and a signed-in person can still report under their own name with Report it in the app.
  • The machine is chosen by the label, not by the person. Asset numbers typed by hand are the main source of wrong records in every CMMS we have used. The QR carries the code; the operator never types it.
  • "I see it too" instead of a duplicate check later. Merging reports after the fact costs a manager's time every day. Letting the second reporter join the first costs nothing.
  • The downtime stamp belongs to the report. The person who saw the machine stop is the only one who knows when it stopped. Asking the technician to estimate it at closing time produces round numbers.
  • "Did it help?" is the only quality measure that costs nothing. It takes the reporter one tap, and it is the fastest way to find the repair that did not hold.

What it does not do

The report page shows the plant's logo and asks only what you configured; it does not show the reporter other people's reports, the work order's details or any cost. Photos are capped at 10 MB each, three per report. Reports work offline inside the app, but the public page needs the phone to reach the server on the plant Wi-Fi, because there is no app on that phone to hold a queue.

Setup details, step by step: chapter 5 of the user manual.

Why it is free. We are maintenance people and built LK Up for our own machines, so it is free for every person in your plant, with nothing held back. Missing something this guide should cover? Write to us; the things that save a technician time tend to get built. What LK Up is →

Questions about problem reports

FAQ
Do operators need the plant Wi-Fi password?

Yes, for the public report page: their phone has to reach the server, which lives on the plant network. A plant that does not want operators on Wi-Fi puts a shared tablet at the line instead (station mode, PIN sign-in) or lets the technician report from the app.

Can the report ask our own questions?

Yes. Under Settings → Custom fields an administrator adds request fields (text, number, date, yes/no, choice) and marks which show on the public page and which are required.

Who sees the reporter's phone number?

The managers of that site, on the request. It is never sent to webhooks or exports of other people, and the reporter can leave it empty.

Ask about your plant

A maintenance person answers

Say how you track this today and what gets in the way. We answer with concrete steps in LK Up, or an honest "not yet" and a place on the list.