What is Asset Tracking?

Nearly 1,000 pieces of construction equipment are reported stolen each month, equalling an estimated $400 million in losses annually. With stolen equipment recovered just 21% of the time, it’s critical for organizations to get the most out of their existing asset fleet—but global supply chain issues are making this a challenge. Limited supply and increasing prices make equipment and parts difficult to obtain for equipment manufacturers. As a result, 98% of equipment manufacturers are saying that they are impacted by the recent supply chain disruptions, with 58% reporting continuously worsening supply chain issues.

With rising equipment theft and persisting supply chain issues, organizations need a better way to protect and optimize their assets. Read on to learn about what an asset tracking solution is and how it can help organizations maximize their assets, reduce costs, and improve productivity.

The basics of asset tracking software

From small businesses to enterprise-level service providers, it’s never been more important for organizations that manage physical operations to protect and optimize their assets. But first, what is an asset? In general, there are two types:

• Unpowered assets are pieces of equipment that are medium or large in size, and do not require an energy source, such as rolloffs, containers, and water tanks. 

• Powered assets are pieces of equipment that are medium or large in size, and require an energy source, such as light towers and generators.

Technologies for asset tracking help organizations protect both unpowered and powered assets from theft. There are many inventory management solutions available in the market today, such as QR codes, barcode scanning, or radio-frequency identification (RFID) tags. However, these solutions can be expensive and often have limited functionality. For example, barcode asset tracking systems require you to use a barcode scanner to record barcode labels on manual spreadsheets, making them inefficient and prone to human error. Similarly, RFID tags, which involve tracking a tag’s radio waves for asset monitoring, may be undetectable in rural or out-of-range locations, making them ineffective and difficult to use.

Innovative organizations in physical operations are now embracing advancements in technology, such as the cloud and the internet of things (IOT), to take their asset tracking and fleet management to the next level. Especially given today’s challenges with equipment theft and supply chain constraints, organizations need modern asset tracking software tools that offer real-time visibility, actionable data metrics, and automated workflows to help streamline the entire asset lifecycle.

Leveraging cloud-based asset tracking software to protect large equipment

Today, the most effective asset tracking technologies are powered by the cloud. Cloud-based asset tracking devices leverage IOT technology and are designed to empower you to work smarter, boost your bottom line, and improve operational efficiency. Here’s how a cloud-based asset tracking solution works to protect large equipment:

• GPS tracking streamlines asset recovery: You can quickly access location data for your large equipment with scheduled asset check-ins and recurring location updates. In addition, you can improve visibility and easily monitor asset activity within a defined area by using customizable geofences that provide notifications (via email or text on your mobile device) whenever an asset arrives or leaves a specific geofence location or risk zone.

• Actionable data maximizes efficiency and reduces costs: Data collected from your assets is sent directly to a central dashboard, providing metrics on utilization, dormancy, time on site, and more. This makes it possible for back-office teams to simplify reporting and streamline administrative tasks. 

• Integrated platform can connect your entire organization: While tracking and recovering lost equipment is an important use case, a cloud-based asset tracking solution offers way more than just pinpointing asset location with GPS. With a cloud-based asset tracking system, you can manage your assets from a single view and connect your entire operations. This enables you to provide sharable location links, automate inventory tracking, and build seamless API integrations with third-party apps, OEMs, and more.

3 benefits of asset tracking software for large equipment

1. Protect assets from theft or misuse: When equipment thefts occur, a cloud-based asset tracking system enables you to quickly locate your equipment and share real-time GPS information with authorities to investigate incidents—streamlining theft recovery and saving both time and money.

2. Optimize asset operation and utilization: Improve equipment utilization by quickly identifying assets that are unused or dormant for long periods of time. With a cloud-based asset tracking solution, underutilized assets can be rightsized, moved to higher demand sites, or consolidated—reducing downtime and maximizing resources.

3. Boost productivity and service: By consolidating your data to the cloud, you can manage your physical assets from a single view—reduce time-consuming yard hunts or manual work to locate assets.

How can an asset tracking system help protect smaller equipment?

Asset tracking systems also help organizations protect smaller equipment from theft. Since smaller equipment is more susceptible to theft or loss, up to 30% of tool purchases end up stolen or misplaced. When valuable equipment such as pallet jacks, concrete saws, laser levels, portable pumps, or small generators go missing, this can lead to massive replacement costs and downtime. 

Organizations looking to minimize small equipment theft and safeguard revenue can now leverage innovative technology such as small asset trackers. For example, the size of a candy bar, Samsara Asset Tags provide real-time visibility into location data by leveraging an industrial network made up of millions of devices. With Asset Tags, organizations can easily track and locate small equipment, unlocking a number of significant benefits:

• Reduce downtime and job disruption: Ensure that front-line workers are productive and efficient 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.

• Mitigate theft and recover valuable assets: With a small, discreet, ruggedized tag, organizations can minimize small equipment theft, reduce resources spent on yard hunts, and decrease the overall time spent locating equipment in the field.

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

Protect large and small equipment with Samsara Asset Tracking and Asset Tags

For both large and small equipment, Samsara’s Asset Tracking solution can help you protect your assets, reduce costs, and improve productivity. With Samsara's real-time information and live-to-the-second tracking, you can accelerate asset recovery and maximize utilization—across an entire asset fleet, these savings can have a significant impact on your bottom line.

Cable East, a telecommunications construction company in northeast Georgia, relies on the Samsara Connected Operations Cloud to streamline their asset tracking. Cable East uses geofencing to automatically track assets that should only be used in specific geographic areas, and receives alerts if those assets leave that area. This automated approach to asset tracking saves the back office team time and streamlines the monitoring of expensive equipment. As a result, Cable East successfully recovered an estimated $2.5 million in assets over four years.

For smaller assets or tools, Samsara Asset Tags can help organizations prevent theft and loss of small physical assets, reduce downtime, and streamline inventory management. By leveraging the Samsara Network—a Bluetooth-powered network that consists of data from over two million Vehicle and Asset Gateways that use the Samsara platform—organizations can improve operational efficiency and minimize costs.

DeSilva Gates, a construction company based in California, uses the Asset Tag to add a layer of protection to their most high-value assets. By discreetly embedding Asset Tag as a backup tracker to existing Asset Gateways, they now have real-time visibility into their small assets, enabling effective tracking and recovery of stolen assets. 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.

To learn more about how Samsara can help you protect and optimize your assets, reach out for a free demo or trial today.