Ryne Higgins
Losing things has long been a bane of human existence. Whether it’s an ancient villager looking for their spear or you ripping open your coach in search of the remote, it has always been really annoying to lose something.
Misplacing small items is most common because, well, they are small and therefore naturally easy to lose track of. That’s why sunglasses, TV remotes, phones, wallets and keys are so frequently lost.
But it is not just the little items that turn up somewhere else. Large assets like cars, heavy equipment and shipping containers are actually misplaced all the time despite their sheer mass.
The best way to solve losing big assets is with GPS tracking technology, which would go great with these five types of assets:
Heavy Equipment
Yellow iron equipment such as backhoes, bulldozers, excavators and cranes are lost more often than the average person may think.
Well, it does happen. Mining, oil and gas, logging and construction companies sometimes misplace these giant machines when working in remote areas or transporting equipment from jobsite to jobsite.
The best way to stop losing these machines is with GPS trackers for equipment. It works by having GPS trackers installed inside the cab of the machine that report location data throughout the day so managers always have access to its location.
It is also easy for managers to check on, since the trackers send the location data to the back-office dashboard and the smartphone app. Many services report after-hours alerts and vehicle diagnostic information, too.
GPS trackers for equipment are great tools to ensure companies’ yellow iron machinery is accounted for. This technology helps businesses save money as well because they don’t have to spend the time, money, and energy trying to find it.
Containers
You’ve seen them on trains, you’ve seen them on cargo ships, and heck, some people live in them. Shipping containers, also known as intermodal containers, are another asset that could use GPS tracking.
Containers are misplaced in similar ways as equipment, since large containers are used by a lot of the same industries. One difference is that GPS trackers for equipment typically serve the purpose of finding lost equipment in secluded areas, while container GPS trackers are also used to keep track of containers being transported over long distances.
Some container trackers also detect temperature, motion, hazardous vapors, fluid levels, and battery levels.
Trailers
Another asset that gets lost on occasion is trailers. Personal trailers are not usually misplaced by their owners, but they are unaccounted for more frequently in professional settings.
Trailers are also used by industries operating in remote areas (oil and gas, construction, logging, etc.) and get lost for the same reasons heavy equipment and containers do. They are also easily forgotten if a driver forgets to hitch a trailer to the truck and drives off, leaving it behind.
GPS trackers report its location so there is no reason to scour the old worksite for the trailer.
Boats
Boats are demanding and costly to manage, and while they generally do not get lost in the traditional sense, boaters can still benefit from GPS trackers.
The main use for trackers on boats is providing knowledge of the vessel’s location when its out on the water to the people back on land. Many trackers share the boat’s speed, last-known location and send alerts when the boat moves.
It is also great for protecting a boat from suspicious activity since some trackers send out tampering and after-hours alerts so you know if someone if messing with your boat while it’s docked.
Tools
For tools like hammers, wrenches and power drills, there is no practical reason to track them because they aren’t that valuable. GPS tracking is meant for high-value tools like concrete saws, power generators, and jackhammers.
Bluetooth asset tracking is used for these important tools. The Bluetooth trackers are key fob-sized beacons that share their location once the product’s main tracking device comes in range of the beacons.
The main tracking device is almost always equipped inside a vehicle, and when that vehicle is in range, the device gets notified of the tools’ location data so they can quickly be found. An example of this is a tracking device being alerted when a work truck drives around a construction site near tools fitted with beacons.
