Asset Tracking In The Construction Industry

The construction industry contains a vastly diverse set of asset tracking requirements over numerous trades and fields. The industry as a whole is providing employment to over 1 million people within Australia, it's one of, if not the biggest industries in the country and is constantly at the forefront of Australia's growth. 

Within each trade, there is array of items that can be tracked.GPS tracking in construction has become a miracle in disguise for construction companies.

 

What can be tracked?

For the most part, construction tracking devices can easily be implemented onto large heavy machinery, fixed plant & equipment assets, storage containers and of course fleet vehicles. 

The most common construction monitoring items with heavy machinery are:

-Excavators
-Bobcats
-Graders
-Bulldozers
-Asphalt Paver
-Dump Trucks
-Street Sweepers

Items such as these are extremely valuable, not only in the price but for day to day operations of a business. It's not only heavy machinery that asset tracking benefits. The most integral part of any construction site is it's tradesmen.

GPS trackers for tradesmen workers is one way to monitor where tradies are located throughout the day.

The work vehicles are generally what is tracked, however, items such as generators, large tool containers, and machinery can also be monitored.

 

How does Asset Tracking work?

Great question!

Construction tracking isn't as straight forward as it sounds. There are 2 variations of asset tracking that can be used depending on what needs to be tracked.

Self-powered assets can use a hardwired solution to integrate a tracking device within and ensure tracking. For non-powered assets, there is a self-powered solution which entails a magnetic mount to attach to the asset. 
The Tracking then uses a Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) network. Through this, a range of satellites that attract microwave signals transmit to the GPS device.

When doing this, it will attain location, speed, time, direction, etc. From then on, the information will be uploaded and sent to the user's software platform allowing for easy access to visualise assets. 

This is tracking in a nutshell, for more in-depth understanding of GPS tracking check out this article from EETimes

What are the benefits of asset tracking?

There are numerous benefits of asset tracking that all contribute to a healthier bottom dollar for construction. 

Ensuring that asset tracking is implemented correctly there most beneficial advantages of employing an asset tracking regime include:

-Improvement of efficiency 
-Cutting costs
-Location of assets 24/7 in real-time
-Saving on admin costs, since there is no requirement of staff to track the asset. 
-Reduction in asset misplacement and loss
-Scaling your business becomes more manageable with assets tracked.
-Customer service increases as communication and location can be transmitted with ease.
-Accountability can be ensured with accuracy
-Although not every sector in construction, it can allow for compliance in certain areas.
-Reporting; gathering real data from the device/asset.

This basic list scrapes the surface when it comes to the benefits of asset & machine tracking. 

Which asset tracking device would suit my needs?

There is a LOT of data that can be extracted from an gps tracking device. The fundamental understanding is what do you need to know from your assets.

Is it purely location? Do you need to extract certain data from your machinery?

Nevertheless, having a device within your asset is a great beginning.

What about assets without power?

For those with major assets that can't supply any power within,

the Intellitrac Evolve would cater to this type of tracking requirement. 

With a strong magnet attachment that allows for placement anywhere magnetic on the asset, visualising your asset tracking is transparent with a device like this.

Finally, tracking your smaller but still important assets is pivotal in construction field.

Hundreds, if not thousands of dollars go towards tools and essential assets.

To track these, something along the lines of the Elfin asset tracking device is what helps in tracking tradesmen power tools, ladders, brush cutters and more.