Meter / Usage-Based PM Trigger
Trigger preventive maintenance from real usage - run hours, cycles, units, miles - not just the calendar. Log meter readings, project the next due point, and raise the PM the moment usage crosses the threshold, with a planner approving before anything is released.
An internal tool where you log meter readings, see usage since the last PM and a projected due date, get PMs raised automatically when usage crosses the threshold, approve them, and export a clean PM work order plus the meter history.
Before you start
- A list of usage-driven assets and their PM rules (e.g., service every 500 run hours)
- Recent meter readings as a CSV or Google Sheet, or a way to enter them by hand
- Free Vercel, Supabase, and Resend accounts (the plan walks you through them)
The problem this kills
Calendar-only preventive maintenance lies to you. A forklift that ran 12 hours a day last month and 2 hours a day this month gets the same "every 90 days" service - so one machine gets serviced too late (and breaks) while the other gets serviced too early (and wastes labor and parts). Meanwhile your meter readings live in a notebook, a whiteboard, or a spreadsheet that nobody trusts, and "when is unit 14 actually due?" turns into a guessing game.
When PMs are tied to the calendar instead of the work the equipment actually did, you pay for it twice: in surprise breakdowns and in maintenance you didn't need yet.
What you'll build
A small, private web tool for your maintenance team that triggers PM from actual usage. You log meter readings (run hours, cycles, units produced, miles - whatever your equipment counts), and the tool figures out how much the asset has run since its last service, projects the date it will hit the next threshold, and raises a PM work order automatically the moment usage crosses the line. A planner reviews every raised PM and approves it before it's assigned - the AI does the math and drafts the work order, but a human releases it. You can run usage rules and calendar rules side by side ("every 500 hours or every 6 months, whichever comes first"), and it handles the real-world mess: meters that roll over, meters that get replaced, and double-entered readings.
What's inside the Implementation Plan
- It interviews you first. Before building anything, the plan has the AI agent ask you about your equipment, how you count usage, your exact PM rules, your real field names, and your edge cases - then it tailors the data model and the build to your shop, not a generic template.
- A step-by-step build you paste into Claude Code, one prompt at a time - no prior coding needed.
- A data model for assets, PM rules, meter readings, and raised PMs shaped around your answers.
- The usage math: usage-since-last-PM, projected due date from your recent average usage rate, and threshold crossing.
- Meter rollover and meter-replacement handling so a reset counter doesn't fire a false PM.
- A planner approval queue, an audit trail, and duplicate guards.
- A clean PM work order export and full meter history export, in the columns your system expects.
- A "No API yet?" path so you can build it today from CSVs even if you can't connect to your CMMS or ERP.
The governance it includes (this is the point)
- Login so only your team can open the tool.
- Row-level security so each organization only ever sees its own assets and readings.
- A complete audit trail - who logged which reading, who raised or approved which PM, and when.
- A hard human-in-the-loop approval gate - usage-triggered PMs are drafts until a planner reviews and approves them; only then do they count as released work orders.
- Duplicate guards so the same meter reading (same asset + same timestamp) can't be entered or processed twice and fire a phantom PM.
Who it's for
Maintenance planners, reliability techs, and supervisors who run usage-driven equipment - forklifts, compressors, pumps, presses, fleet vehicles, CNC machines - and are tired of calendar PMs that ignore how hard each unit actually worked. If you can keep a spreadsheet of meter readings, you can run this tool.
You've got this - paste the first prompt and let the agent interview you.