Equipment management glossary
The terms that come up when you run shared equipment — defined in plain English, with the failure mode each one exists to prevent.
The terms that come up when you run shared equipment — defined in plain English, with the failure mode each one exists to prevent.
Every entry gives you the one-sentence definition first, then what it means in practice, what goes wrong without it, and the formula where there is one.
Asset lifecycle management is the practice of managing equipment deliberately at every stage — from specifying and buying it through use and maintenance to disposal.
DefinitionAn asset register is the authoritative list of what an organisation owns, holding each item's identity, value and location for accounting and operational purposes.
DefinitionAn asset tag is a durable label fixed to a piece of equipment carrying a unique identifier, so the physical item can be matched to its record.
DefinitionBarcode tracking uses printed machine-readable codes on physical items so that scanning a label, rather than typing an identifier, records what happened to which item.
DefinitionCalibration is the documented comparison of an instrument's readings against a known reference, and any adjustment needed to bring it back within tolerance.
DefinitionChain of custody is an unbroken record of who held a specific item, and when, from the moment it was acquired to the moment it left the organisation.
DefinitionEquipment checkout is the recorded handover of an item to a person for a period of time, closed by a check-in when the item comes back.
DefinitionAn equipment condition report is a dated record of the physical and working state of a specific item, used to track deterioration and settle damage questions.
DefinitionEquipment depreciation is the accounting method for spreading an item's cost across the years it is expected to be useful, rather than expensing it all at purchase.
DefinitionEquipment downtime is time during which equipment is unavailable for its intended use, whether because it has failed or because it is being serviced.
DefinitionAn equipment inventory is a complete, current list of the equipment an organisation owns, with enough detail per item to identify it, locate it and account for it.
DefinitionAn equipment inventory system is software that maintains a live register of individual equipment items and records every booking, handover, movement and repair against them.
DefinitionAn equipment kit is a group of items that travel and are issued together as a single unit, while remaining individually tracked.
DefinitionAn equipment loan agreement is a short written record of who borrowed which equipment, when it is due back, and what condition it was in when it left.
DefinitionEquipment management is the practice of tracking what equipment an organisation owns, where it is, who has it, and what condition it is in — across its whole working life.
DefinitionAn equipment sign-out sheet is a log where people record which equipment they are taking, when they took it and when they returned it.
DefinitionA gear cage is a secured store from which shared equipment is issued and returned, common in film and broadcast production, universities and theatres.
DefinitionAn item's home location is where it belongs when idle; its current location is where it is right now. The two are separate fields for a reason.
DefinitionAn inventory audit is a physical check of what an organisation actually holds against what its records claim, followed by reconciliation of the differences.
DefinitionInventory shrinkage is the gap between what records say an organisation holds and what it actually holds, expressed as a share of value.
DefinitionA maintenance schedule is the plan of what servicing each item needs, at what interval, and who is responsible for doing it.
DefinitionMTBF is the average operating time between one failure and the next for repairable equipment, used as a reliability measure.
DefinitionPreventive maintenance is servicing equipment on a planned schedule — by time or by usage — to reduce the chance of it failing unexpectedly in use.
DefinitionA reservation claims equipment for a future period; a checkout records that someone has actually taken it. Most operations need both.
DefinitionA service history is the complete record of maintenance, repairs and inspections carried out on a specific item, with dates, work done and cost.
DefinitionA tool crib is a controlled store from which tools and equipment are issued to workers and returned, common in manufacturing, construction and maintenance shops.
DefinitionTotal cost of ownership is everything a piece of equipment costs across its whole life, not just its purchase price, less whatever it is worth at the end.
DefinitionA type is the single thing an item fundamentally is; categories are the many attributes you want to filter it by. One item has one type and any number of categories.
DefinitionUtilisation rate is the share of available time that a piece of equipment is actually in use, expressed as a percentage.
DefinitionA work order is an instruction to carry out a specific piece of maintenance or repair on a specific item, tracked from raised to completed.
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