Every minute counts in a commercial vehicle workshop. When a lorry is on the lifting platform, the clock is ticking for the haulage company and therefore also for the workshop's business. Professional Order planning is therefore the foundation for profitability, customer satisfaction and employee motivation. With E-truck orders With its longer diagnostic and security routines, it is even more important. This article shows you step by step how to optimise your Disposition in the commercial vehicle workshop systematically - from scheduling to post-calculation. Industry surveys from several European markets also show the same trend for the commercial vehicle sector. Process-based order planning is based on the ISO 9001 (quality management), which requires documented processes for consistent order management.
Structured order planning for the commercial vehicle workshop creates the basis for calculable throughput times, predictable parts availability and reliable daily organisation. For parallel occupational safety, EU Directive 2009/104 also sets the framework for safe work equipment. This framework has been transposed into national regulations in each member state.
Order planning for commercial vehicle workshops means the systematic management of repair and maintenance orders in terms of deadlines, resources, parts and priority. It combines customer requirements, workshop capacity and parts logistics into a realistic schedule. It is therefore the basis of every productive commercial vehicle workshop with stable capacity utilisation.
Why does order planning fail in many commercial vehicle workshops?
The most common causes of inefficient workshop processes do not lie in the skills of the mechanics, but in the organisation beforehand. Anyone who accepts orders without checking capacities automatically creates bottlenecks. If someone only orders spare parts when the vehicle is already on the platform, they are wasting valuable working time. If communication between the receiving department, workshop and parts warehouse is left to chance, errors are produced. If you want to delve deeper, you can also read the article on find qualified mechatronics engineers Further information.
The five most common planning mistakes
- No pre-diagnosis: Orders are accepted without knowing the actual scope of work. This leads to time overruns and blocked platforms.
- Missing capacity check: The foreman says „Bring the lorry tomorrow“, even though all the platforms are occupied.
- Parts not pre-ordered: Missing spare parts are one of the typical downtime drivers in commercial vehicle workshops. However, their proportion can be significantly reduced with consistent advance planning.
- Buffer times are missing: A calculated full capacity utilisation may sound efficient, but it leads to domino effects in every emergency.
- No keeping up: Without post-calculation, planning errors are systematically repeated.
„Good scheduling doesn't start in the morning when the lorries arrive. It starts three days before, when the appointment is made.“- Experience from the Alltrucks partner network
Order planning in the commercial vehicle workshop: in 6 steps from call to collection
A professional Capacity planning can be divided into six clearly defined phases. Each phase has specific responsibilities, inputs and outputs. If you adhere to these steps, you will reduce waiting times, avoid idle time and create planning security - for your team and for your customers.
Qualify appointment request
Already at the first contact you clarify: Which vehicle (type, year of manufacture, mileage)? What symptoms? Is it an inspection, repair or periodic technical inspection (EU 2014/45)? You can also use standardised checklists to estimate the expected scope of work and the parts required. In the Alltrucks partner network, this structured assumption is also defined in the Alltrucks process compass - from order structuring to handover.
Check capacity & allocate appointment
Firstly, compare the estimated time required with your current workload. Take into account available platforms, mechanic qualifications (brakes, electrics, pneumatics), special tool requirements and buffer times already scheduled. A good guideline: Plan a maximum of 80 % of the theoretical capacity. The remaining 20 % are your safety buffer for emergencies and rework.
Plan spare parts in advance
As soon as the date is set, you initiate the parts order. For standard maintenance, you know what is required based on experience. For repairs, on the other hand, you reserve at least the most likely parts. The goal: when the vehicle arrives, the parts are ready. This is also where the reduction of downtimes begins.
Create daily planning
The evening before or early in the morning, the workshop manager draws up the daily schedule. He assigns jobs to the platforms and mechanics, defines sequences and takes dependencies into account (e.g. diagnostics first, then repairs). Then visualise the plan - either digitally or on a well-structured planning board.
Control & communicate progress
During the day, the scheduling department monitors progress. It recognises delays immediately and takes countermeasures: Can a mechanic provide support? Does the customer need to be informed? Communication between the receiving department, workshop and parts warehouse must also function in real time. Digital workshop management systems (DMS) provide valuable services here.
Post-calculation & process optimisation
After the order has been completed, compare the planned and actual times. Where were there deviations? Why? Document learnings and adjust your time targets. This step is most often skipped in practice, but it is the most important for long-term improvement. You can also find further ideas in the article on improving lead times.
Which digital tools help with commercial vehicle scheduling?
| KPI | Typical pattern without control | Orientation with structured planning |
|---|---|---|
| Processing time per standard order | Several hours, often with waiting times | more stable, with deliberately planned buffer times |
| Lifting platform utilisation | below average, idle times visible | planned, not sewn on edge |
| Parts availability on arrival | not consistently ensured | Consistently planned in advance |
| Overdraft rate per month | Regular timeouts | recognised at an early stage and counteracted |
| Complaint rate | increased, with communication gaps | addressed through clear feedback |
| Employee productivity | fluctuating depending on daily organisation | Plannable through sequence and qualification assignment |
Ten years ago, the planning board with magnets was still the standard in the Workshop control. Today, however, there are specialised software solutions that can do much more: automatic appointment suggestions based on free capacity, real-time status displays for each order, integrated parts ordering and automated customer notifications by SMS or email. If you want to delve deeper, you can also find further information in the article on KPI dashboards for workshop management.
What you should look out for when selecting software
Not every dealer management system (DMS) is suitable for the commercial vehicle sector. This is because commercial vehicle workshops have special requirements: longer throughput times than passenger car workshops, more frequent emergency control, more complex parts logistics and often several locations. You should therefore pay attention to the following criteria:
- Commercial vehicle-specific work values: The software should provide realistic time specifications for commercial vehicle work - not just converted car values.
- Multi-stage planning: In a typical commercial vehicle workshop there are 4 to 12 Lifting platforms available. The system must be able to manage all of them at the same time.
- Interfaces: Integration with parts wholesalers and accounting is mandatory - depending on the brand coverage of the workshop, further interfaces are added.
- Mobile use: Mechanics should be able to update the job status directly on the platform - via tablet or smartphone.
For digital workshop management, Alltrucks partner companies rely on specific modules: Werbas (dealer management system, with which a service partnership exists), PleaseFix (for the workshop-fleet connection, service partnership) and also Alltrucks VINcat as a spare parts catalogue with VIN search. We will be happy to discuss which combination suits your business.
Analogue planning as a supplement
The visual planning board also has its place in digitalised companies: as an overview in the workshop area that every mechanic can see at a glance. It is crucial that the planning board mirrors the digital plan, not replaces it. Duplicate data storage without synchronisation is worse than no digitalisation at all.
Order planning in the commercial vehicle workshop for emergencies and seasonal peaks
Emergency control
Breakdown vehicles and urgent repairs cannot be planned, but you can still prepare for them. Reserve one stage a day as emergency capacity (or at least 2-3 hours on a flexible stage). Also define clear criteria for what counts as an „emergency“ and what can wait for the next available appointment. For Alltrucks partner companies is also Assist24 the 24/7 breakdown service channel in the network.
Warranty and guarantee processing
Warranty orders require special documentation and often pre-authorisation by the manufacturer. Therefore, allow for additional administration time and start the approval request before the vehicle is on the platform. Nothing is more annoying (and more expensive) than a lorry waiting three days for warranty approval - on your platform.
Seasonal peaks
Tyre changes in autumn and spring, clusters around the periodic technical inspection at the end of the year and the holiday season in summer create predictable peak loads. Experienced companies counteract this by bundling appointments at an early stage, increasing capacity (e.g. through temporary work) or actively diverting customers to weaker weeks. The basis for this is also a Systematic workshop utilisation analysis.
„Since emergency capacities are firmly planned instead of improvised, overtime is reduced and customer satisfaction increases.“- Practical observations from the Alltrucks partner network
Key figures for your order planning
You can't improve what you don't measure. You should therefore analyse these KPIs on a monthly basis:
- Plan/actual deviation: How much does the actual working time deviate from the planned value? Target value: < 15 %.
- First-time completion rate (first-time fix): Percentage of orders completed on the first workshop visit. Benchmark: > 85 %.
- Parts availability rate: How often were all required parts available at the start of work? Target value: > 92 %.
- Stage occupancy rate: Proportion of stage time used productively. Good value: 75-85 %.
- Lead time: Total time from vehicle receipt to collection - ideally separated by order type (maintenance, repair, periodic technical monitoring).
Further information on economic management can also be found in the articles Running a profitable workshop and Calculate hourly rate.
Start by recording the actuals for one week. Make a note of the planned and actual processing time for each order, including the reason for the deviation. After just five working days, you will recognise your three biggest time wasters.