Industrial electronics repair software

ServiceCenterSoft is job-tracking software for industrial electronics repair shops: variable frequency drives, switch-mode power supplies, CNC and machine control boards, PLCs, HMIs and servo drives. Your customers are plants and maintenance departments, not walk-ins, and the software fits the way they work: asset tags next to serial numbers, batches of identical boards, estimates approved by the plant engineer, long waits for obsolete parts, the same unit coming back months later, and a completion report the customer’s accounts team will accept. It runs in the browser, on the bench PC and on your phone.

Who it is for

A typical VFD repair shop is a handful of engineers with a rework station, a scope, a bench supply and a home-built load test rig. There are not many customers, but they are big and they keep coming back: a food plant, a sawmill, a water utility, a machine shop, the maintenance team of a large farm. A night-shift electrician drops the unit off, the maintenance manager approves the quote, and the company pays on monthly invoice terms.

What usually goes wrong:

• the plant calls about “the drive from line 3 you fixed in spring”, and all your notebook says is the model;
• six identical boards arrive from one site, and a month later nobody knows which went back and which is still waiting for a gate driver;
• you order and fit an IGBT module, and the customer says nobody approved that amount;
• a unit comes back two months later, and no one remembers what was replaced or whether it is still under your repair warranty;
• at month end you need to reconcile with the plant — what shipped, what was paid — and the data is scattered across paper.

Booking in: serial number and asset tag

Each job has device type, make, model, serial number and a “product code” field. Industrial units usually carry two numbers: the manufacturer’s serial and the customer’s asset tag. Put the serial in the serial field and the asset tag in the product code. Advanced search in “device” mode looks through model, serial number and product code, so a unit turns up by either number — even by part of it.

The “condition” and “accessories” fields are filled in with whoever brought the unit: cover and fan present, the drive’s keypad, connectors, option cards; any signs of moisture, dust or burning. They print on the job sheet that gets signed. Which line, machine or building the unit came from goes in the notes — useful when the plant starts asking questions.

A batch of boards from one site

Plants rarely send one board at a time. Six identical power supplies? Fill in the first job completely, then copy it for the rest: customer, device type, model, fault and accessories carry over, and you type in each board’s own serial and asset tag. From there each board has its own path — one is done the same day, one waits for a chip, one is beyond repair. The job list shows each of them, and a search by company name answers “where is our batch?”

Estimates approved by the plant engineer

Drive and servo repairs can get expensive: a power module, a gate driver, a control board. After diagnosis the engineer writes the findings in the work log: “IGBT module phase V shorted, gate driver burnt, discoloration near the regulator on the control board”. The job moves to “waiting for approval”, and every unit waiting on an answer shows in the list.

The estimate is built line by line — labour, module, driver, capacitors from stock — with quantity and price. A button on the job sends it by email or Telegram to the address on the customer record. The customer opens the link, sees every line and the total, and presses “I agree” or “I decline”. The answer and date stay in the job history, even if the person who approved it has left the plant a month later.

If the repair costs more than a new unit, or the part simply cannot be found, “repair refused” or “beyond repair” closes the job. If you charge for evaluation, set a diagnostics price for the device type and it sits on the job from day one.

Obsolete parts and long turnaround

An industrial board often hangs on one part: a discontinued processor, an original power module, an unusual driver IC. The part order is created from the job and emailed to the supplier, and the job sits in “waiting for parts” — you can see which unit is waiting, what was ordered and when it arrived. Keep the common stuff — electrolytics, optocouplers, fans, regulators — in stock: goods in with cost price, used on a job as an estimate line, a minimum level and a “running low” tile. More on spare parts tracking; to identify a part from the code on its package, see the SMD transistor marking guide.

Every job has a promised date: once it passes, the row turns red, the “overdue” filter gathers those jobs, and “urgent” stands out when a production line is down because of the unit. Statuses are a list you control — add “Sourcing parts” or “Load testing”, each with its own colour. When the unit is ready the customer gets an email or a Telegram message, and each finished unit shows how many days it has been waiting for pickup.

The same unit, back again

A drive trips out again after a lightning storm; a power supply overheats again in a dusty cabinet. A search by serial number or asset tag shows every earlier job — when the unit was in, when it shipped, what was done and what was replaced. The default repair types include “Repeat repair” for exactly this.

The ship date tells you whether your repair warranty still applies. The warranty wording itself — how long and what it covers — you write into the completion report template under “Print forms”, and it prints on every report. The “Recommendations” field is advice to the customer: “clean the cabinet”, “check cabinet ventilation”, “fit surge protection”. It prints on the report too and stays in the history.

A completion report for accounts, and getting paid

Customers have a “Company” field: different people bring units from the same plant, but the customer is one, and the company name prints on the job sheet and report. The completion report carries your letterhead with company details, the estimate as a table, the work log, recommendations and the amount due. More on the completion report.

A job can take several payments — a deposit for an expensive part, the balance after shipping — and the software shows what is still owed. The “unpaid” filter collects jobs handed over but not paid, and the customer record lists all of the plant’s jobs and its balance, so the month-end reconciliation takes minutes.

If you also repair the motors those drives run, there is a separate page on electric motor repair.

About requirements after repair

This is repair-tracking software, not a test-report system. Load test results can go in the work log, but there is no separate test certificate form. What testing, paperwork and sign-off is needed after repairing equipment used in production, and how to document work under a service contract, depends on your country and industry — check with a qualified professional.

What repairs typically cost

As a rough guide only — prices vary with region, power rating, parts availability and board condition: evaluation €60–150, VFD up to 7.5 kW €250–700, 11–55 kW €700–2,500, industrial power supply €120–400, CNC or machine control board €300–1,200, PLC €200–900, servo drive €400–1,800. You set your own prices: per device type and as estimate lines.

What it does not do

• test certificates or measurement forms — results are text in the work log;
• contracts or invoices as separate documents — there is a completion report with your company details;
• photos, schematics or file attachments on jobs, SMS, a mobile app, online payment by the customer;
• links to component distributors’ catalogues, or fractional stock quantities.

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: book in a drive with an asset tag, copy the job for a second board and find both with advanced search.

In short

• Serial number and asset tag on the job and in search.
• A batch of boards from one site — as copies of one job.
• An estimate for approval by link — before you order the expensive part.
• Part orders for obsolete components, stock with minimum levels, promised dates.
• Unit history by number, a “Repeat repair” type, your warranty wording on the report.
• Company customers, deposits and multiple payments, balances, a completion report.
• €20 a month for the whole shop.