PLANT HIRE · SYSTEM
IN SHORT
Every asset carries its certification and service dates. The system schedules the work before expiry and stops an out-of-cert machine being booked out.
Why spreadsheets fail here
A fleet register in a spreadsheet is accurate the day it is written. Certification then drifts, and the failure mode is a machine going out of the yard without a valid inspection — a commercial and legal problem, not an admin one.
How the workflow runs
Certification and service intervals are held per asset. The system raises work ahead of expiry, schedules engineers around the hire book, chases outstanding certificates and marks assets unavailable in the booking flow when certification lapses.
Where the human stays
The engineer certifies; the system tracks. No inspection status is ever inferred from anything other than a filed certificate.
What you get
- Per-asset certification and service register
- Engineer scheduling planned around demand
- Automatic block on hiring out-of-certificate assets
- Certificate documents filed and searchable per asset
Questions we get asked
- Does it replace our inspection provider?
- No. It schedules them, chases the paperwork and files the certificates.
- Can it cover hired-in plant too?
- Yes, cross-hired assets can be tracked with the supplier's certification and return dates.
Keep reading
- AI for plant hireThe full industry hub
- Case studyHow an owner-driver fleet business tightened off-hire discipline and recovered chargeable work it had been writing off.
- Plant hire automation in EdinburghLocal coverage and context
- Plant hire automation in GlasgowLocal coverage and context
- ROI calculatorModel savings and payback
TRUST & CREDENTIALS
How we work, and what stands behind it
This page is maintained by Forth Systems. Everything listed below describes our own team, hosting choices and the technologies we build on — it is a statement of practice, not an independent certification or an endorsement by the vendors named.
UK team & data residency
Who builds it, and where your data sits while they do.
UK-based engineers
Edinburgh-headquartered. Every system is designed, built and supported by our own UK-based engineering team — no offshore delivery pool.
UK / EU hosting by default
Applications and databases are provisioned in UK or EU regions unless you require otherwise, with encryption in transit and at rest.
Human-in-the-loop by design
Every AI system we ship keeps a manual override. Nothing irreversible happens without an operator able to review, edit or stop it.
Audit trails as standard
Automated actions are written as first-class records — who or what did it, when, against which input — so operations stay evidence-ready.
Systems we build on
The platforms our systems run on. These are the technologies we deploy and support — not sponsorships or reseller badges.
OpenAI, Anthropic & Google models
Model-agnostic delivery. We route each workload to the model that fits it on cost, latency and accuracy, and can switch without a rebuild.
Supabase & Postgres
Row-level-security Postgres as the operational spine under every platform we run.
Stripe payments
Payment capture, checkout and reconciliation wired directly into job and permit workflows.
Xero, Sage & HubSpot integrations
Production integrations into the finance and CRM systems UK operators already run, so automation lands where the business keeps its records.
Streetworks & industry credentials
Operational domains we build in daily, with the sector systems we integrate against.
DfT Street Manager integration
Our Kerbco permit chain creates and tracks streetworks permit applications against DfT Street Manager and local highway authority processes.
NRSWA-aligned workflows
Permit, reinstatement and traffic-management workflows built to the New Roads and Street Works Act process contractors are inspected against.
Traffic management planning
Roadplan produces signing and guarding layouts for council submission and for the crew installing them on site.
Operator-built, not consultancy-built
We run streetworks and plant operations ourselves. Every platform started as a system we needed in our own business.
Insurance certificates, registration numbers and security documentation are available on request — ask the team.