How do you record what product went into each customer site?

This method covers lubricants, process fluids and other chemicals that a customer applies, fills or tops up in identified equipment. It does not replace the customer's own maintenance management system or a lot traceability system required by a product's regulator.

What do you need before you start a customer site product record?

Before you start a customer site product record, you need five things fixed in writing: the site and equipment list, the product list, the unit for each product form, the date format, and who records each entry. Changing any of these after entries exist makes old and new entries impossible to add up.

• Site and equipment list: customer, site, line or building, and the customer's own asset tag for each machine or application point. Use the customer's tag when one exists, so their maintenance staff and you name the same thing.

• Product list: each product identifier exactly as printed on its safety data sheet, with the current revision date. Under the US Hazard Communication Standard, the customer's own list of hazardous chemicals uses "a product identifier that is referenced on the appropriate safety data sheet" (OSHA, 29 CFR 1910.1200, 2026).

• Unit convention: one unit per product form, for example liters for liquids and kilograms for greases.

• Date format: one format for every entry, preferably YYYY-MM-DD.

• Recorder: the person or role who logs each event, on your side or the customer's.

Why do shipment records not show product use at each customer site?

Shipment records do not show product use at each customer site because a shipment ends at the customer's delivery address, while use happens later, in a specific machine, in amounts the delivery note does not record. One delivery may sit in the customer's store for weeks, be split across several lines, or be decanted into transfer containers before anyone applies it. The order, the invoice and the delivery note all describe the same event: product handed over at the gate.

Maintenance logs fill part of the gap. A published lubrication program template tells technicians to "Log the date, time, and technician responsible for each lubrication activity" (Mitti, 2026). The same template also says to apply "the correct type and amount of lubricant", but its record step logs only who did the work and when (Mitti, 2026). Product identity and quantity per site are a separate question, and a log built only around the task leaves them out.

A lubricant maker's whitepaper lists "unclear identification and inconsistent quantities" among common failure modes when lubricant is applied (Interflon whitepaper). The same paper describes the aim of digital records as "documenting what was planned, what was executed and what requires follow-up" (Interflon whitepaper). A site product record adds the product, its quantity and the application date to that executed work, so the delivery and the use can be compared.

How do you record product, quantity and date at each customer site step by step?

You record product, quantity and date at each customer site with one entry per event, completed in four steps, each filling one field group. An event is any fill, top-up, change-out or application of a product at one piece of equipment.

1. Name the site and equipment. Enter customer, site and the asset tag or application point. One point per entry: a gearbox and its bearing housing are two entries if they take different products.

2. Record the product. Enter the product identifier from the safety data sheet, the grade, and the lot or batch number from the container label when it is legible. Add the safety data sheet revision date the site holds.

3. Record the quantity with its unit. Enter the number and the unit in separate fields, using the unit fixed for that product form. Write L for liters, the symbol NIST gives as preferred in the United States (NIST SP 330, citing CGPM 1979). Add the event type: initial fill, top-up or full change. A 2 L top-up and a 200 L change-out mean different things for wear and for reconciliation (illustrative).

4. Record the application date. Enter the date the product went into the equipment in YYYY-MM-DD form (ISO 8601-1:2019), not the delivery date, and the name of the person who applied it.

Finish each entry with a free-text remark only for what the fields cannot hold, such as a leak found or a reason for an unplanned top-up.

How do you check a customer site product record?

You check a customer site product record by testing each entry against five checks: site and equipment identity, product identity, quantity and unit, date, and recorder. An entry that fails any of them cannot be traced or added up, so fix it while the person who made it still remembers.

The table below decides whether a site product entry is complete enough to trace product, quantity and date.

The quantity row is the one to watch: an entry reading "1 drum" has to be converted into liters or kilograms before it can be compared with what was shipped. Keep the original wording in the remark, so the conversion can be checked later.

Run the five checks on new entries at each visit, before the reconciliation step, rather than once a year. Entries marked unconfirmed stay in the record but are left out of the totals until the site confirms them, so one doubtful line does not distort the comparison with shipments.

How do you link a site product record to the shipment or order?

You link a site product record to the shipment or order by writing the delivery note or order number, and the lot printed on the container, into each entry that uses product from that delivery. The site record does not need to repeat price or delivery terms; it needs a reference that lets someone find the shipment that fed the event.

Three links do most of the work:

• Delivery note or order number on each entry, taken from the container or the site's goods receipt.

• Lot or batch number on each entry, so a quality question about one lot can be traced to the equipment that received it.

• Safety data sheet revision on each product line, because a supplier must send an updated sheet to all recipients of the preceding 12 months (Regulation 1907/2006, Article 31), and the customer must keep the required sheet in the workplace for each hazardous chemical (OSHA, 29 CFR 1910.1200, 2026).

In Lubinpla, a project's product usage record holds the product, quantity and application date that people enter; it is not linked automatically to shipment or order records, and quantity is free text, so the unit convention and the delivery reference still have to be written in by hand. In a spreadsheet or any other tool the same applies: the link exists only if someone writes the reference into the entry.

How often should site product records be reconciled with shipments?

Site product records should be reconciled with shipments at a fixed interval tied to the customer's delivery cycle, and again whenever a product, a safety data sheet or a piece of equipment changes. The sources cited here set no interval for this; choose one per customer and keep it, for example at each delivery or each month (illustrative).

To reconcile, add up the recorded use per product over the period, then compare it with the shipped quantity and the change in stock at the site. A worked example, with illustrative figures: 1,000 L shipped in a month, 780 L recorded as applied, and 150 L more in the site store than at the start. That leaves 70 L unaccounted for.

An unexplained difference points to three places to look: an event that was never recorded, product used on equipment outside the list, or product lost to leaks, spills or waste. Ask about each before closing the period, and record the explanation.

Event triggers matter as much as the calendar. When a safety data sheet revision arrives, the reconciled site record shows which sites hold that product, because REACH Article 31 ties the update to the customers supplied in the preceding 12 months, not to the sites or equipment inside each customer (Regulation 1907/2006, Article 31).