The seven fields
| # | Field | What to write | Why |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Weather | Start and end time, snow type (wet, normal, dry), total, temperature trend | Lets you compare storms |
| 2 | Hours | Plowing hours per truck | Edge life is best measured in hours |
| 3 | Treatment | Product, rate and quantity, if any | Links material use to conditions |
| 4 | Edge condition | Wear reading or photo reference per truck | Shows wear per storm |
| 5 | Faults | Chips, strikes, hardware or hydraulic problems, with location | Finds repeat problems |
| 6 | Spares used | Edges, bolts, shoes and other parts | Feeds ordering and budgets |
| 7 | One lesson | One sentence on what to do differently next time | Turns data into action |
How to run it
A log only works when one person owns it and the fields come from records that already exist.
- One person owns the log. A named supervisor or dispatcher, not a shared responsibility.
- Pull the facts from the pre-trip and post-trip cards. Nobody rewrites from memory.
- Fill in the seven fields within a day of the storm. A week later the detail is gone.
- Keep one shared sheet, one row per storm and truck. Separate files never get compared.
- At season end, sort and summarise. The summary is the point of the exercise.
End-of-season review
The review is where the log earns its keep, and it only takes four comparisons.
- Total hours and spares used, and compare with stock bought.
- Edge life in hours by type and by truck.
- Faults by location, which shows hazards to mark or fix.
- Lessons: group them and pick three actions for next season, each with an owner.
Common mistakes
The log fails for human reasons, and all three are predictable.
- Adding too many fields. A seven-field log gets filled; a twenty-field log gets abandoned in the second week.
- Filling it in a week later from memory. A log written from memory records the storm that was remembered, not the one that happened.
- Not reviewing it. An unreviewed log is a filing exercise, not a lesson.
Limits
This is a minimal template. Add fields only when you know what decision they will inform.
A worked example (invented)
Invented row: storm on a Tuesday, 6 hours, wet snow, 1 truck, 4 hours of plowing, no treatment, edge wear reading 2 mm lower than at the last check, one chipped insert near the south gate, one edge bolt set used, lesson: ‘mark the south gate cover before the next storm’. The numbers are made up to show the style; they say nothing about real wear. The value is that a year later you can find every storm in which that gate caused trouble.
Boundary: This is a minimal example template with no standard behind it; add fields only when you know what decision they will inform.
Further reading on this site.
A blade scrapes well at first and leaves more snow later in the shift. What should the log capture? ↗What should we decide before a trial so that a severe storm does not change the scoring rules? ↗Carbide snow plow blades ↗Labelling Edges by Truck and Position: A Marking Scheme So Wear Data Follows the Edge ↗Mountain Passes and Steep Grades: Edge and Setup Considerations at Altitude ↗Factory Holiday Calendars vs Your Order Calendar: Planning Around Production Shutdowns ↗
