Automation · Maintenance and Servicing

Maintenance is triggered by operating hours, not the calendar week.

Automating maintenance means: the maintenance order is created when the machine has run its hours or an inspection deadline is approaching, and it lands with a checklist at the responsible technician. Operators report faults by QR code on the machine instead of shouting across the floor. We build this into the systems you already have, and tell you honestly if your equipment fleet needs a purchased maintenance software instead.

Free initial analysis Use cases

The problem

The machine stops, and only then does it become clear that maintenance was overdue.

Maintenance dates sit in an Excel list that one person maintains and no one opens. As long as nothing breaks, no one notices, and when something breaks, the repair costs more than ten maintenance visits.

01Maintenance intervals run by calendar, even though one machine runs three shifts and the other stood idle for two months.
02Inspection deadlines for electrical equipment, ladders, gates or hoists sit in different lists, and before the appointment someone frantically searches for the last inspection sticker.
03Operators report faults verbally to the shift supervisor: by the time it becomes a work order, the shift is over and the report is gone.
04When a failure occurs, exactly the spare part that has been needed again and again for two years is missing, because no one tracks the minimum stock.

Use cases

What we actually automate in maintenance.

Five paths we build again and again in production, facility technology and technical service. Your machines and your ERP stay, only the list disappears.

Maintenance triggered by operating hours instead of by calendar

The maintenance order is created at 500 operating hours, not on the first Monday of the quarter. We get the counter reading from the controller, from an existing operating-hours counter or, if both are missing, from a brief reading that the shift supervisor logs once a week. Machines in continuous operation therefore get maintenance more often, rarely used ones less often, and both are cheaper than the rigid interval.

Effect Maintenance by load instead of by date

Statutory inspection deadlines with lead time and proof

Equipment subject to inspection gets a record with inspection type, deadline, inspector and result, and the reminder goes out weeks in advance instead of on the due date. Portable electrical equipment under DGUV regulation 3, ladders, gates, shelving and hoists end up in one overview instead of five lists. You set the deadlines themselves based on your risk assessment, we implement them technically and make sure none slip through.

Effect No inspection deadline expires unnoticed

Fault reporting by QR code on the machine

A QR code is attached to every machine, the operator scans it with their phone and reports in three fields what is going on: machine stopped, machine running with restrictions, or unusual noise. The machine is already identified by the code, so there is no searching for inventory numbers and no login. The report immediately becomes a timestamped work order for the maintenance technician, and the operator sees from the status that it has arrived.

Savings 30-60 sec instead of paper slips and shouting

Minimum spare-part stock and automatic reordering

For wear parts we set a minimum stock, and the withdrawal is logged with the maintenance order instead of from memory later. If the stock falls below the threshold, a purchase request goes to procurement or directly to the supplier, depending on how much automation you want. A human approves it, we only suggest.

Effect The wear part is there before it is missing

Maintenance history as gapless proof per machine

Every maintenance visit, every inspection and every fault is attached to the machine, with date, person, checklist and photos from the phone. In the event of damage or during an audit, you pull up a machine's history in one minute instead of leafing through a folder. After a few months you can also see which machine costs you more reactive call-outs than planned maintenance, and that is exactly the figure that justifies a replacement investment.

Effect History per machine in one minute

Tools

What we use to build your maintenance planning.

Which tool fits depends on your equipment fleet and what your maintenance technicians work with today: a plant with 40 machines and one ERP runs differently from a property management company with heating systems at twelve sites. We commit after the as-is assessment, not according to a partner program.

Data hub

n8n

Takes in counter readings, QR code reports and inspection deadlines, calculates what is due, and creates the work order where your maintenance technicians see it. Runs on a server on your premises on request, so machine data never leaves the plant.

View n8n automation

Microsoft world

Power Platform

If you already work in Microsoft 365, fault reporting becomes a Power App on the phone and deadline monitoring becomes a Power Automate flow. Accessing an on-premises ERP requires the on-premises data gateway, and this gateway as well as custom connectors are licensed entitlements. We work this out with you before implementation.

View Power Platform

Legacy system without interface

UiPath

Some maintenance modules in older ERP or industry systems have no interface, and the manufacturer no longer builds one. Then a software robot enters the orders and confirmations the way a person would type them, just at night and without transposed digits. This is the bridge when a system change is not currently on the table.

View UiPath automation

How we work

The 30-day model.

We work at a fixed price instead of an open timesheet. After the initial analysis you know what it costs before we start.

Initial analysis at the machine (free)

In 60 minutes we walk through your current process: which machines, which intervals, which inspection obligations, who reports a fault to whom. Afterwards both sides know whether automation is enough or whether your equipment fleet deserves a purchased maintenance software.

Define equipment master data and triggers, fixed price

We define together with you which machine is triggered by hours, which by date and which only by condition. Fewer rules are almost always better, because they are actually followed on the shift floor. You get a quote with a fixed price and fixed scope.

Pilot on one equipment group, parallel run against the list

We start with one equipment group or one site and let the old Excel list keep running for a few weeks. Only once both sides show the same due dates do we roll out to the rest of the equipment fleet.

Handover with audit trail

You receive documentation, a briefing for maintenance technicians and shift supervisors, and an audit trail: for every maintenance order it is traceable which counter reading or which deadline triggered it. You keep control, we remain available as a support partner on request.

Around the machine

Maintenance is rarely the only construction site in the plant.

Once maintenance orders start being created on their own, it becomes apparent that order times, purchase orders and invoices next to them are still handled by hand. On the process automation overview page you can see what else can be taken off your hands around production.

View process automation

Free initial analysis

Do you know which of your machines costs you more in repairs than in maintenance?

In the free initial analysis we go through your equipment fleet and work it out: 60 minutes, no obligation, with an honest assessment. If off-the-shelf maintenance software is the better choice for you, we say so, even if that means we build nothing.

Book an appointment kontakt@nordflux.de

Fixed price instead of an open timesheet
Machine data stays on-site or on German servers
Every maintenance order traceable back to its trigger

Frequently asked questions

What operations and maintenance managers often ask.

What is the difference between preventive and reactive maintenance?

Reactive maintenance kicks in once the machine has already stopped: you repair the damage that has already occurred. Preventive maintenance works on a fixed trigger, classically by calendar or operating hours, and replaces a part before it fails. No operation is 100 percent preventive, because some failures come without warning, and for non-critical equipment repairing is simply cheaper than preventing. A mix makes sense, and for that you first need to know what the ratio looks like for you today.

Do we need maintenance software or a CMMS for this?

Not necessarily, but from a certain size onward, yes, and then we tell you so. For 20 to 60 machines with manageable intervals, we automate maintenance planning, deadlines and fault reporting cleanly into your existing systems, without you introducing and maintaining another piece of software. If instead you need several hundred machines, multi-shift maintenance planning, spare-parts inventory with stock levels and standard-certified inspection records, you are better off buying a mature CMMS or the maintenance module of your ERP. We then help with selection and integration instead of selling you a rebuild that hits its limits in three years.

Does this replace the DGUV V3 inspection of our electrical equipment?

No, inspection still has to be carried out by a qualified person, usually an electrician, and no automation changes that. What we automate is everything around it: the inventory of equipment subject to inspection, the reminder with weeks of lead time, commissioning the inspector, and filing the inspection result at the equipment. You as the employer set the inspection deadlines themselves based on your risk assessment, with reference values found in the relevant DGUV information sheets and technical rules. We do not tell you a deadline, we make sure the one you set does not slip through.

Where do the operating hours come from if our machines have no interface?

In most cases from an operating-hours counter the machine already has, which is read and logged once a week. Newer controllers output the value via an interface, in which case we pick it up automatically. A weekly reading sounds old-fashioned, but is entirely sufficient for maintenance intervals, because a service at 503 instead of 500 hours makes no difference. Full machine data acquisition with cycle times and downtime is a separate topic, one you do not need for maintenance planning.

Does the QR code fault report also work without WiFi in the plant?

Mostly yes, because employees' phones are online via mobile network and the QR code only opens a web page, not an app. If there is neither WiFi nor reception in the hall, which happens in basements and halls with a lot of steel, we build the report so it is cached offline in the browser and sent as soon as reception returns. Where even that does not hold up, a terminal at the hall exit remains the more honest solution. What works for you, we see on site, not in the proposal.