What Is an Asset Tag?

Equipment theft costs the U.S. construction industry nearly $1 billion annually, with approximately 11,000 to 18,000 pieces of equipment stolen each year. These issues are worsened by ongoing supply chain challenges, making it harder to replace stolen or damaged items quickly. Small equipment, though critical to an organization’s operational success, is especially susceptible to theft due to its compact size. 

As large and small equipment theft continues to rise, modern organizations are turning to innovative asset tracking technology such as asset tags. But what is asset tagging, and how can it help protect an organization’s equipment fleet? In this guide, we break down how you can use asset tags to protect your small equipment, minimize theft, improve asset recovery, and reduce operational costs.

The importance of large and small assets to an equipment fleet

Heavy-duty and small equipment alike are mission-critical to numerous industries, including construction, agriculture, real estate, transportation and logistics, and more. In fact, the global construction equipment market, which includes large and small assets, was valued at over $200 billion in 2023 and plays a significant role in the economy. 

The reliability of large and small equipment also plays a massive role in efficiency and productivity. Without functional and available equipment, it can be challenging for field employees to operate at peak performance, impacting project timelines, job completion, and overall profitability.

However, physical assets and valuable equipment are often stored at construction job sites and storage yards, making them highly vulnerable to theft. This is especially true for small equipment due to its miniature size—according to the National Equipment Register (NER), small construction equipment accounts for around 25-30% of all equipment theft reports in the United States. 

To minimize theft, organizations have looked to various asset tracking solutions to safeguard their equipment fleet and optimize the asset management lifecycle. Keep reading to learn about new technology that is helping organizations discreetly track even their smallest equipment.

What is an asset tag?

In 2023, equipment theft increased by 300%, making it imperative that organizations have the technology necessary to protect their valuable assets. For years, organizations have used asset tracking software to protect their large powered and unpowered equipment, such as cranes, excavators, and backhoes. Given the rise in small equipment theft, however, organizations now need a better way to safeguard their small assets as well, such as pallet jacks, lawn mowers, portable pumps, fiber spools, concrete saws, skip loaders, toolboxes, bins, small generators, porta potties, laser levels, and more. 

In the past, organizations used various asset management systems to track their small equipment, including QR codes, unique identification systems, serial numbers, barcode scanner solutions, and radio-frequency identification (RFID) tags. However, these options can be expensive and provide limited functionality. For instance, barcode-powered asset tracking systems and unique identifier solutions require a scanner to log barcode labels and enter unique IDs into manual spreadsheets, which may lead to time-consuming data entry and potential human error. Likewise, RFID tags, which rely on radio waves emitted from identification tags as the basis for location tracking, may not be detectable in remote or out-of-range areas, making them unreliable and challenging to use. 

Now, organizations can use asset tags to protect their small equipment, minimizing theft, reducing costs, and transforming their asset management processes. An asset tag is a small, ruggedized device that offers real-time tracking capabilities. The asset tagging process is quick and easy—simply attach an asset tag to a piece of small equipment, and through Bluetooth technology, administrators gain full visibility into the location of their small assets. A cloud-based asset tagging system makes it possible to reduce downtime, mitigate theft, and streamline inventory management.

What are the benefits of asset tags?

An asset tag solution offers a powerful way to monitor and protect small equipment. With complete visibility into your equipment fleet’s location and status, you can reduce theft, enhance operational efficiency, and improve job completion. Here are a few key benefits:

• Tracking and locating small assets: Find and track valuable assets easily using near real-time location information visualized directly on laptops and mobile devices.

• Minimize small equipment theft: Deter equipment theft of high-value assets by tracking their location with a discreet, ruggedized device. 

• Improve asset recovery: Facilitate the recovery of lost or stolen assets with precise location data, reducing resources spent on yard hunts and decreasing the overall time spent locating equipment in the field.

• Streamline inventory management: Using near real-time data, easily account for asset location for inventory control, ensure appropriate write-offs or buying decisions are made, and streamline equipment audits.

• Reduce job disruptions: Ensure that frontline workers are efficient on job sites by providing them with the tools they need to execute important operational tasks. By tracking job-critical assets, organizations can avoid delays and revenue loss.

Protect small equipment and reduce theft with the Samsara Asset Tag

The Samsara Asset Tag is an industry-leading asset tracking solution that transforms the way organizations track and protect their equipment fleet. The Samsara Asset Tag is the size of a candy bar, making it easy to attach to small equipment. Leveraging the power of Bluetooth and the Samsara Network—an industrial network made up of data from over two million Vehicle Gateways and Asset Gateways—organizations can now improve efficiency by quickly locating critical assets, preventing theft, and simplifying inventory management. 

DeSilva Gates, a construction company based in California, uses the Samsara Asset Tag to add a layer of protection to their most high-value assets. By discreetly deploying Asset Tags on their small assets, as well as their large assets as a backup tracker to existing Asset Gateways, they now have real-time visibility into all of their assets, enabling effective tracking and recovery of stolen assets. "I wanted to test the network’s coverage so I installed it on my pickup truck,” said Rich Poppoff, Equipment Superintendent. “It registered on the Samsara Network, even in rural areas where none of our job sites are located.”

With the enhanced tracking capabilities, DeSilva Gates is not only able to deter theft but also improve inventory management—enabling them to improve efficiency and better protect their $200 million equipment fleet.

“Asset Tag allows us to reinforce existing location tracking on our high-value assets and, for the first time, add tracking to smaller assets that we couldn't track before,” said Poppoff.

To learn more about how the Samsara Asset Tag can help you protect large and small equipment, reach out for a free demo or trial today.