Someone misplacing your tape measurer can be irritating. Losing track of a skidsteer or a dumpster can be the difference between completing a job on time and losing a job. The more visibility you have into your equipment inventory, the better you can run and scope projects. Samsara makes it easy to schedule and track equipment in 3 steps.

Step 1: Bring Your Equipment, Powered or Unpowered, into a Single Dashboard

Staying on top of inventory and the location of equipment can be a full-time profession. Cross-referencing spreadsheets, calling job sites, and deciphering post-it notes can take hours and is not reliable.

By using tracking devices for powered and unpowered assets, your project managers can view and manage everything from light to heavy equipment in one dashboard. And with Caterpillar 9-Pin and 14-Pin cables, you can install trackers on your Cat equipment as well.

Beyond asset tracking, you can view diagnostics in real-time and ensure your yellow iron is ready for work without manually checking fuel levels, battery life, or engine hours.

Step 2: Your Equipment Is as Busy as You Are, Keep It on Schedule

Your equipment can’t be in two places at once. Confusion around which equipment should be at which job site can lead to hours or days burned waiting for a rig to free up. Without knowing equipment availability, you could be missing viable projects while your equipment sits idle.

With GPS tracking and the Asset Schedule tool, you can schedule assets for a job and easily view and monitor your equipment using the most up-to-date information, in an easy to read chart.

When assigning equipment, your dispatch or operations team can review jobs, assign specific assets, and mark them as pending or onsite. This provides visibility into asset management for your entire team and eliminates risks of double booking equipment.

Step 3: Ensure Your Tools Are Put Back at the End of the Day

The early morning should be for drinking coffee and contemplation, but too often daybreak turns into a frantic yard hunt to track down the equipment needed for the day’s work. This slows down projects and impacts the utilization of rented or owned equipment, driving up project costs.

With asset check-in scheduling, your equipment shares its location at the start and end of the day, giving you a consolidated report of your equipment locations. Having this information, backed by GPS data, means a morning jog around the yard is an option rather than a necessity.

When it’s time to lock up the job site, you can set alerts using geofences and battery powered gps trackers that wake on motion. Any unauthorized use or stolen equipment is tracked instantly, providing you peace of mind and preventing major losses.

To learn more about equipment management, check out how Ghilotti Bros. is using Samsara to streamline their operations.