Materials handling & forklifts
Forklift fleet management software for service-led operations
MDMS runs the forklifts you keep going for customers — planned maintenance by hour meter, recurring service billing, mobile job cards for the van, and the parts to back them.
- By hour or calendar — Planned maintenance scheduled per forklift class
- Offline — Mobile job cards that sync when signal returns
- Drafted on cadence — Recurring maintenance invoices, monthly or quarterly
Who this is for
Forklift and materials-handling service companies running fleets on customer sites
Short-term forklift and access-equipment hire businesses
Independent workshops maintaining mixed-brand forklift fleets under contract
Branches billing recurring planned maintenance across LPG, diesel and electric units
Your words, mapped to MDMS
The way this industry talks about the job, and exactly what runs it in MDMS.
| What you call it | What runs it in MDMS | How it works |
|---|---|---|
| Fleet on contract / units out on the floor | rental_contracts + recurring billing_contracts against serialised equipment_units | Your customer's forklifts live as serialised units; hire and recurring service are both billed per unit. |
| Planned maintenance — every 250 or 500 hours | pm_schedules (per forklift class, hour or calendar trigger) + get_pm_due_units | Set the interval per class and MDMS works out what's due, then raises the job with its checklist attached. |
| Hour meter off the Hobbs | equipment_hour_readings → equipment_units.hour_meter (monotonic guard) | The reading is entered by hand on the visit and drives the service-due calc — there is no automatic telematics feed. |
| Service van / mobile tech | Field Service module — offline PWA job cards, sync on reconnect | The technician closes the job on site with photos and the closing meter; it syncs when signal returns. |
| LPG vs electric service regime | a pm_schedule per class plus a wo_checklist_template per regime | Different intervals and checklists for gas, diesel and electric — configured by you, not hard-coded. |
| Breakdown call-out — someone there today | work_orders.priority = urgent + SLA response/resolution windows + live countdown | Urgent jobs get tighter SLA windows and a countdown; a breach is flagged, not automatically escalated. |
| Fill-in dry hire while theirs is down | rental_contracts on daily or hourly hire_rates + fleet availability calendar | Slot a short hire into a gap on the calendar. There is no supplier cross-hire concept. |
| Parts off the van or over the counter | Counter Sale (POS, atomic stock move) + part-to-model fitment | Charge parts to the job or as a cash / account sale; fitment links the right part to the machine. |
The problems that cost you
You can't see the fleet you're responsible for
Your name is on hundreds of forklifts sitting on other people's sites. When one is due for a service, when a hire is about to run over, or when a unit keeps failing, that lives in a technician's head or a spreadsheet that is always a week behind — so machines fall through the cracks and the customer finds the gap before you do.
The service that pays the bills is the first thing to slip
Planned maintenance is the contracted work that keeps the lights on, but the moment the workshop is buried in breakdowns it is the first thing to quietly slide. Without a system that works out which units are actually due — by hour meter and by calendar — and puts the job in front of a coordinator, the schedule drifts and the contract stops being honoured.
Recurring billing leaks a little every month
Monthly and quarterly maintenance charges are easy money and easy to miss. Bill a period late, skip one entirely, or forget the overage hours on a hard-worked unit and the revenue is simply gone — nobody chases an invoice for work that was never written up. Done by hand across a book of contracts, the leak is small each month and large across a year.
A breakdown call pulls a tech off three booked jobs
When a customer's forklift stops, the call is urgent and the nearest technician gets pulled — often off scheduled work that then runs late for someone else. Without a priority, a response clock and a live view of who is where and what is booked, every emergency reshuffles the day by feel, and the knock-on delays stay invisible until the complaints arrive.
How it runs, end to end
- 1
Log the fleet as serialised units
Every forklift you look after becomes a serialised unit carrying its make, model, serial, VIN or plate, power type and hour meter — the record everything else in MDMS hangs off.
- 2
Set the maintenance regime per class
Create a planned-maintenance schedule for each class — LPG, diesel, electric — triggered by hour meter, calendar, or both, with the right inspection checklist attached to the job it will raise.
- 3
Let the due list build itself
As hour readings come in from visits and hire returns, MDMS works out which units are due or overdue and lists them for the coordinator — no service diary and no wall planner to keep in sync.
- 4
Raise and dispatch the job
One click turns a due unit into a work order with its checklist pre-loaded; assign it on the dispatch board (part of the premium Dealer Suite module) or push it to a technician's mobile job card.
- 5
Close it in the field, online or off
The technician records labour, parts used and the closing hour meter on the job card — offline in a plant room if the signal drops — and everything syncs back to the office when coverage returns.
- 6
Bill the contract and the call-outs
Recurring maintenance invoices draft on their monthly or quarterly cadence, breakdown work orders convert straight to invoices, and every parts line relieves stock as it is sold — GST calculated on each.
- 7
Keep the history on the unit
Every service, part, meter reading and inspection stays on that forklift's record, so the next technician, the next quote and the next contract renewal all start from what actually happened.
What does the work
Planned maintenance that runs itself
Schedule preventive maintenance by hour meter or calendar per forklift class, and let MDMS raise the due jobs with the right checklist already attached.
One fleet, hire and service together
Run short-term hire and contract maintenance against the same serialised units, with a live availability calendar and recurring billing on both.
Job cards that work in a dead spot
Technicians complete jobs on a mobile app with photos and the closing meter — offline in a plant room, then synced automatically when signal returns.
The modules that matter here
Buy only what you use. These are the MDMS modules this industry leans on most.
Frequently asked questions
- What is the best forklift fleet management software in Australia?
- MDMS is built for service-led forklift and materials-handling operations. It schedules planned maintenance by hour meter or calendar per forklift class, bills recurring maintenance contracts, gives technicians offline mobile job cards, and runs short-term hire and parts against the same serialised units — with Australian GST tax invoices and Xero sync included.
- Can MDMS schedule planned maintenance by forklift type?
- Yes. You create a preventive-maintenance schedule per class — LPG, diesel or electric — triggered by hour meter, by calendar, or by both, with an inspection checklist attached. As readings come in, MDMS builds the due and overdue list automatically and turns any due unit into a work order with the checklist pre-loaded.
- Does MDMS track pre-start or operator inspections?
- Partly, and it is worth being precise. You can build a pre-start checklist template and record it on a service work order, and hire returns capture a full condition inspection with photos. MDMS does not provide a separate operator daily pre-start log or an operator sign-off app — inspection records are captured against work orders and returns, by your staff.
- Can I run short-term hire and maintenance on the same fleet?
- Yes. The same serialised forklift can be hired out on daily or hourly rates and maintained under a recurring contract, using one availability calendar so you never double-book. Hire returns run a structured damage and condition inspection. There is no supplier cross-hire feature — hire is from your own fleet.
- How does MDMS handle breakdown call-outs?
- A breakdown becomes a work order with an urgent priority, which automatically sets tighter SLA response and resolution windows and shows a live countdown so coordinators can see what is at risk. Jobs are assigned on the dispatch board (part of the premium Dealer Suite) or sent to a mobile job card. A breach is flagged rather than auto-escalated.
- Does MDMS work offline for mobile technicians?
- Yes. The field-service app is an installable Progressive Web App that caches the technician's jobs, so they can record labour, parts and the closing hour meter and capture photos with no mobile signal — for example inside a plant room. Everything syncs when coverage returns. It is a PWA rather than a native app, and it does not track technician GPS location.
Ready to try forklift fleet management software?
Start a 14-day free trial — no credit card, no implementation fee, no sales call required. Or book a personalised demo with our team to see your workflow in MDMS.
Related industries
Hire & rental fleets
MDMS runs a hire fleet on the numbers that matter — on-hire and off-hire, rate cards and recurring billing, guided damage assessment on return, deposits, and utilisation per unit.
Construction & earthmoving
Sell it or hire it, then keep it running — MDMS manages earthmoving machines and their attachments through sale, wet and dry hire, damage recovery on return and machine-hour servicing.
Power, pumps & compressors
For businesses that keep an installed base of standby and rotating equipment alive, MDMS ties the units on each site to their agreements, their planned visits and their emergency call-outs.