Forklift repair software

ServiceCenterSoft is job-tracking software for independent forklift service companies and material handling repair shops: electric counterbalance forklifts, walkie and rider stackers, reach trucks, pallet jacks, and the traction batteries and chargers that keep them running. Field calls and bench work share one job list, and a 3PL customer with thirty trucks has one record with every job, the balance owed and a completion report per repair. It runs in the browser — on the shop PC and on your phone in the aisle next to the truck.

Who it is for

Independent dealers’ service departments, mobile forklift mechanics who grew into a small company, battery and charger specialists, shops that rebuild pallet jacks by the dozen. Your customers are warehouses, distribution centres, third-party logistics providers, manufacturers and retailers. When a truck goes down, a dock door stops moving, so the first question is “when can you get here?”, and the second one comes from accounts payable a month later.

Where it usually goes wrong:

• the customer runs fifteen identical trucks, calls about “number seven again”, and nobody knows what was done to number seven last time;
• three trucks and two pallet jacks were fixed on one visit, and the invoice only has what someone remembered that evening;
• a shift lead said yes to a new controller, and the company’s purchasing team never saw the number;
• pump seal kits for the most common pallet jack run out the week a customer drops off ten of them;
• a fleet customer’s balance is spread over a dozen jobs and totalled by hand.

One job per truck, found by asset number

Each job has device type, model, serial number and a “product code” field. Put the manufacturer’s serial in the serial field and the customer’s asset or unit number in product code — “FL-07” or “stacker 3, dock B”. Advanced search in device mode looks through model, serial and product code, so “number seven” turns up in seconds with its full repair history.

Set up separate device types — electric forklift, stacker, reach truck, pallet jack, traction battery, charger — each with its own diagnostic price and labour list.

There is no dedicated hour meter field. Read the meter and put it in “Notes for the technician”: “6,240 hrs, 48 V, runs in the freezer.” The customer does not see that field, and text search finds it later. Planned maintenance by hours works the way it is described on the generator repair page: a PM item with a price in the labour list, what was done in the work log, the next PM in the recommendations.

Field service without a dispatch board

To be straight: there is no dispatch board, scheduler or route planning. Most forklift work happens on site anyway, and it fits what the software does have. The site address lives on the customer record. Create a status of your own — “Awaiting field call” — with a colour and a tile above the list, and one click shows every truck you still need to visit. On site, open the software on your phone and create a job for each truck you touched, even if it was only an adjustment.

The call-out charge is a labour item with a price — “Service call, local”, “Travel, per mile” — and goes onto the estimate as a line. Five trucks at one customer? Put the call-out on one job and only labour and parts on the rest.

Every job has a promised date; once it passes, the row turns red and the “overdue” filter collects those jobs. The “Urgent” flag — for the one reach truck that serves the top racking — shows right in the list.

Pallet jacks by the pallet

Customers bring hand pallet jacks in themselves, and rarely one at a time. Fill in the first job, copy it for the rest: customer, device type, model and fault carry over, and you enter each serial and asset number. Condition covers bent forks, cracked frames and flat-spotted polyurethane wheels; accessories — the handle, caps. One back after your repair gets the “Repeat repair” type, and its serial brings up the earlier job.

Traction batteries and chargers

A traction battery is often worth a large share of the truck, and it moves between trucks. Give it a job of its own with its own serial so its history stays with the battery. Cell voltages, specific gravity, capacity test results go in the work log; watering and charging advice goes in “Recommendations for the customer”, which prints on the completion report. Chargers get their own device type and diagnostic price too.

Controllers and hydraulics only after “I agree”

A drive controller, a lift pump, a mast cylinder reseal, a control valve — numbers a fleet customer wants to see first. Log what you found, move the job to “waiting for approval”, and build an itemised estimate from stock and the labour list. A button sends it by email or Telegram; the customer sees each line and the total and presses “I agree” or “I decline”, and the answer is stored with the date. For a fleet account that means the person who pays is the one who approved — on record. Declined? “Repair refused” closes the job, or “beyond repair”.

Controller boards are often repaired at the bench — that workflow is on the industrial electronics repair page. Rewinding a drive or pump motor is covered under electric motor repair.

Parts on the shelf and on order

Stock is a movement log: goods in with cost and supplier, used on a job as an estimate line, returned, adjusted at stock-take. A part picked from stock reduces the balance by itself. A typical shelf: pump and cylinder seal kits, load and steer wheels, bearings, motor brushes, contactors, fuses, microswitches, hydraulic hoses. Quantities are whole numbers, so count hydraulic oil by the jug.

Minimum levels and a “running low” tile tell you when to reorder. A controller or pump for a specific truck is ordered from the job: the request is emailed to your supplier and the job sits in “waiting for parts”. More on spare parts tracking.

Fleet customers and 3PLs

The “Company” field makes a logistics provider one customer, whichever warehouse calls. Its record shows every job on every truck and the balance owed. A job can take several payments — a deposit on an expensive part, the rest on completion — and the “unpaid” filter lists what has gone out without being paid. The completion report has estimate lines, the work log, recommendations and the amount due. When a truck is ready, the customer gets an email or a Telegram message.

What stays outside the software

Periodic forklift inspections, operator training and certification, and rules for lifting equipment depend on your country and are not handled by the software. Dispose of spent traction batteries and electrolyte under local rules.

What repairs typically cost

As a rough guide only — prices vary with region, make and condition: on-site diagnosis €80–180 plus the call-out, pallet jack pump reseal €60–180, pallet jack wheels €40–100 labour plus wheels, planned maintenance on an electric forklift €150–400 plus parts, mast cylinder reseal €200–600, controller repair €250–900, traction battery cell replacement €200–1,500 depending on the number of cells, charger repair €150–500. You set your own prices: per device type, in the labour list and as estimate lines.

What it does not do

• dispatch board, scheduling or route planning;
• a fleet management module — trucks are found by asset number in product code;
• a dedicated hour meter field or scheduled PM reminders;
• photos or file attachments on jobs;
• SMS, a mobile app, online payment by the customer;
• supplier integrations or parts catalogues.

What it costs

One price for the whole shop — no extra charge for staff or branches.

Off-the-shelf not enough — your own forms, roles, reports or workflow? We will build a program for you. How it works

Try it without signing up in the demo: check in a forklift, enter an asset number, copy the job for a second truck and send the estimate to the customer.

In short

• One job per truck; the customer’s asset number in product code, searchable.
• Field calls as a labour line and a status of your own; urgent and overdue jobs in plain sight.
• Pallet jacks in bulk by copying jobs.
• Traction batteries and chargers as their own devices with their own history.
• Controllers and hydraulics only after the customer clicks “I agree”.
• Fleet customers: company field, several payments, balance, completion report.
• €20 a month for the whole shop.