What happens when your best tech doesn’t answer the phone?
PlantLore captures how your plant actually works: the fixes, tricks, and warnings in your people’s heads, organized around every machine and one scan away on the floor.
- Built by a maintenance & automation tech
- Works beside SAP and any CMMS
- Phone-first, one scan per machine
- Manuals, drawings, PLC files
- Private to your company
Nailer 2 is down.
Mike isn’t answering.
Every plant has a Mike: the one person who knows which sensor fails first, which drawing is wrong, and what was changed five years ago. When only Mike knows, the plant runs on Mike’s availability.
Hours lost
Longer troubleshooting, more downtime, and after-hours call-ins for the same few people.
The same mistake, twice
Repeated guesses, unneeded parts, and contractor calls for problems someone already solved.
Experience that retires
A replacement doesn’t inherit 20 years of plant-specific know-how. Work orders rarely tell the whole story.
Scan the machine.
See what it knows.
Every machine gets a printed QR label. One scan with a phone opens everything your plant knows about it.
- Where to lock it out, before anything else
- Known problems, past fixes, and troubleshooting steps
- Manuals, drawings, and PLC program files
- Photos and video from your own floor
Type the problem.
Get Mike’s fix.
Search the way you talk. “Won’t advance” finds the fix Mike wrote down last spring, with his photo, the manual page, and the drawing. Checked fixes come first.
Know what to trust
Every entry shows where it stands, so nobody follows a guess in the middle of the night.
Line’s running.
Now write it down.
The tech who fixed it adds what he learned, right at the machine: pick Tip, Fix, Problem, or Safety, type a few lines, and snap a photo or video. His name goes on it.
Big buttons, made for the floor. Works on any phone or tablet. In English or Spanish.
By morning,
the plant knows.
The maintenance lead reviews the night’s notes and marks them Verified. The next shift, the next hire, and the next decade get the fix. Mike gets his sleep.
Every change is on record: who, what, and when.
Every machine has a story.
Most of it was never written down.
- 1994: Won’t advance? Wipe the sensor face. Sawdust, not a bad sensor. M.R.
- 2007: Left guide sits low. Shim it 1/16 inch. The manual’s wrong. D.T.
- 2019: Drain the air dryer by hand, every second shift. J.K.
PlantLore keeps it, with the name of the person who knew it, and puts it one scan away from the machine.
Illustration. Sample notes.Who it’s for
- OWNERS & PLANT MANAGERSStop depending on who’s on call.Keep what your plant learned when people retire, leave, or take a vacation.
- MAINTENANCE LEADSTrain new techs on your machines.Not generic ones. Review what gets added and decide what’s verified.
- TECHNICIANSYour fixes, with your name on them.Fewer 2 AM calls. Answers at the machine, from people who’ve been there.
- OPERATIONS LEADERSYour best plant’s fixes, in every plant.One private workspace per company, organized by plant, area, and machine.
Built to honor
the people who know
Every entry carries the name of the person who shared it. PlantLore doesn’t replace your best technicians. It makes their know-how outlast any shift, vacation, or retirement.
Your knowledge stays yours
- Each company gets its own private workspace and sign-in.
- Invite-only. Nobody joins without your administrator.
- Files sit in private storage, opened only by short-lived links.
- PlantLore staff don’t get automatic access to your data.
- Clear roles: technicians add, managers verify, viewers read.
I’ve spent my career troubleshooting PLCs, drives, and plant networks. I’ve gotten the 2 AM call, and I’ve made it. I built PlantLore so the answer doesn’t depend on who picks up.
Start with
one machine
- 01Capture it deeply, with the people who know it.
- 02Put it in your technicians’ hands, on the floor.
- 03Measure how fast answers are found and how much gets captured.
- 04Expand only after it proves itself.
Questions worth asking
- How many experienced people are near retirement?
- How long does it take to train a replacement?
- How much exists nowhere but someone’s head?
Run your own numbers
Every plant is different. The starting numbers are only examples, so change them to match yours.
Example numbers to start. Change them to yours. Breakdown time = cost per hour × breakdowns × hours × 12 months × the share you chose. PlantLore doesn’t promise a percentage. A pilot measures the real one on your machine.
Check it on one machineKeep the knowledge.
Find the fix.
Start with a free machine walkdown. We’ll walk one machine with your maintenance lead and leave you a one-page sheet of its top five failures and fixes, whether or not you buy.
The people may change. Your plant should keep what it learned.
Questions
Does PlantLore replace our CMMS or SAP?
No. Your CMMS tracks what work was done. PlantLore holds how your plant actually works: the fixes, tricks, and warnings behind that work. They sit side by side.
Who can see our knowledge?
Only people your administrator invites. Each company is kept separate in the database itself, and PlantLore staff don’t get automatic access.
What kinds of files can we add?
Any type, up to 250 MB each: OEM manuals, electrical and mechanical drawings, PLC program exports, datasheets, procedures, photos, and video.
Will our technicians actually use it?
It was built by a technician, for the floor: scan the label, read the fix, add a photo. Big buttons, plain words, and their name on what they share.
Does it work in Spanish?
Yes. Every screen is in English and Spanish, and each person picks their own. What people write is shown exactly as they wrote it, and the printed QR labels carry both languages.
What does it cost?
It depends on your plant and how many machines you start with. The walkdown is free, and we’ll give you a number after it.