How RFID, GPS, BLE, UWB, and IoT-sensors can help organizations to gain insight into their physical assets.
An essential machine went missing on a job site. The numbers in a warehouse inventory do not seem to add up to the materials available for use. A vehicle is shuttling between facilities but there is no one who seems to know exactly where it is at any given moment.
While these are all issues related to physical asset tracking, they are also problems of information.
Asset management tends to rely on spreadsheets and inventory procedures to keep track of equipment. As companies scale and have operations in multiple facilities, asset records become harder to keep up to date.
However, a different perspective suggests that connected asset tracking technologies can offer new ways to associate useful information with physical objects.
1. Considerations in Connected Asset Tracking Systems
The primary factors in choosing between connected asset tracking solutions are a given set of assets that need to be tracked plus the insights that the information provides about how they are used.
A few examples of the main technologies in connected asset tracking:
Technology
Typical application
RFID
Inventory tracking of tagged assets
GPS/GNSS
Vehicle and machine location outside of buildings
BLE
Positioning and proximity indoors
UWB
High accuracy positioning in appropriate technical conditions
IoT-sensors
Conditions such as temperature, vibratory movements (equipment health indicators)
Each of the different location tracking and monitoring technologies has its strengths and weaknesses.
A warehouse with many tagged items may well benefit from incorporating RFID in its inventory procedures. Organizations with mobile equipment and machines typically need GPS/GNSS information for jobsite or field-level operations.
Meanwhile a facility that handles materials that are sensitive to ambient conditions likely to benefit from the application of IoT-sensors.
The most important consideration in selecting asset tracking technologies is matching the information to be obtained from the asset to a specific application, rather than gathering information for its own sake.
2. Practical Insights from Asset Data
Having information about an item or system is not the same thing as understanding how it impacts operations.
If workers are unable to identify where a particular piece of equipment is located, they may waste time calling around to their colleagues asking if somebody has seen it, or they might order a second unit because the first was assumed to be in its usual place.
If an appropriate asset tracking method is used for equipment shared between work crews, site supervisors can likely have more control over equipment allocation.
Similarly, a tracking system that improves the accuracy rate of warehouse inventory can help pickers avoid scanning non-existent items and save the time wasted searching for them afterwards.
When used with condition monitoring solutions, connected asset tracking systems can alert operators and analysts about how equipment is performing or warn them about environmental conditions in the immediate vicinity. While the ability to obtain and analyze information about the behavior of equipment and materials is undoubtedly valuable, it will not necessarily improve operational performance unless the data is presented in a way that fits known procedures.
3. Asset Tracking: Questions to Ask Yourself
Before choosing between different methods of connected asset tracking, there are a few basic questions that can help to clarify what the objective should be.
Which assets do you need to track?
It is common and perfectly understandable for companies to want to make sure that the equipment and supplies that are expensive or frequently used are present and accounted for. Tracking everything is not generally necessary or cost-effective. Start by identifying the asset types that cause a disproportionate amount of issues.
Where are the assets to be tracked?
Warehouses, worksites and transport networks each have different positioning requirements and varying degrees of technical capability relating to connected asset tracking. It is important to choose the technologies that match the conditions in which the assets will be found.
What information do your workers actually need?
The different aspects of equipment status (location, availability, movement, identity, and condition) provide different benefits.
You must understand the value that is provided by a given application before you can decide whether you need it.
How the system will be used determines how valuable the information from it will be to your organization.
For businesses weighing their options in relation to asset tracking and monitoring, Asset Track Pro offers a detailed and informative overview of the available solutions.
4. Building a Successful Asset Tracking Strategy
Successful connected asset tracking systems are not built by simply buying a network of RFID tags and hoping for the best.
Rather, they begin with a process of selecting useful information and presenting it in a format that fits the users' needs for managing their physical assets.
RFID, GPS/GNSS, BLE, UWB and IoT-sensors each offer a certain set of benefits.
By understanding what these are and applying them in the right way, businesses can start to see real value in their investment in asset tracking.
A reasonable approach to formulating a strategy for connected asset tracking might start with the following steps.
Having identified a problem to be addressed using asset tracking, determine which information is to be gathered, select the methods that provide these insights, and then integrate them into operational procedures.
With the ability to make decisions based on asset tracking information comes the potential to achieve truly intelligent asset management strategies.
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