Hold every unit, refrigerant record, fault call and contract visit by customer site.

A customer with a failed cold room has stock at risk within hours. The call is urgent. The unit is often years old, and the engineer needs its make, its refrigerant type and what was done last time before he leaves the yard.

Service software for refrigeration firms keeps a record for every unit. Dispatchers see which engineer is nearest and qualified. Engineers see the history on a phone. Accounts bill the visit, the parts and the gas used, and contract customers are reminded of their renewal in good time.

Customers are supermarkets, restaurants, hotels, cold stores, butchers, bakeries and food plants. Work arrives as breakdown calls, planned maintenance under a contract and new installations. A dispatcher logs the site, the unit, the fault and the value of stock at risk, then picks an engineer. The van carries compressors, fan motors, controllers, valves and gas, and the engineer diagnoses the fault, repairs or isolates the unit and notes cabinet temperature and pressures. Gas added or recovered is written against the unit. That record matters later. Many customers also run several sites, so the dispatcher needs one view of every unit that belongs to the same chain, whatever the address or the manager on duty.

Installation jobs begin with a survey and a quotation for cold rooms, display cases and pipework, and then move through site work, commissioning and handover. Planned visits follow a calendar, with filters, coils, door seals and defrost cycles checked each time. Temperature alarms from monitored units can raise a call without anybody phoning. Parts are bought from wholesalers and held in the van or the store. Some customers need a certificate after each visit. Others never ask. Accounts invoice the call-out, labour, parts and gas, and renew contracts as they fall due.