Assets falling below the radar and ‘vanishing’, because they are small enough to be moved around, but too big to sit on a shelf, is an issue regularly plaguing many organisations. “Across every industry and vertical, the question, ‘Where’s my stuff?’, is prevalent,” says Orbcomm senior VP of IoT Software Solutions, Ashish Chona. “A case in point would be the many major defence contractors, where assets take one-seven years to manufacture, that lose parts and inventory of this description, often worth upwards of £250,000. These assets take up a lot of space indoors or outdoors and are difficult to store, but are of critical importance, so they are quickly replaced and the waste is tolerated.”
He also points to manufacturing and warehousing as industries where such losses are more widespread – higher-value assets and materials, or assets with preventive maintenance schedules that necessitate immediate availability. Chona describes these losses as a common occurrence, yet something that owners are mostly aware of “as replacing lost inventory and equipment gains visibility quickly with those in finance”.
Once Orbcomm is involved in preventing such losses, it delivers the right solution, he adds, whether that be active or passive RFID (radio frequency identification), GPS (global positioning system) or other IoT-driven inventory and asset tracking and management technology. This is aimed at ensuring visibility of all parts as and when they: arrive at the warehouse; are shipped to manufacturing or storage yards; go through manufacturing and storage; and are eventually installed.
Using Orbcomm technology, says Chona, has provided its clients with much greater visibility of equipment that might have lain idle for some time, so it is brought back into service. “GPS might be required for tracking mobile assets that traverse vast areas, in and out of traditional near-field coverage, such as vehicles, containers and remote machinery, while BLE [Bluetooth Low Energy] and active and passive RFID will deliver visibility within the four walls or beyond where the cost of GPS is not justified or GPS wouldn’t provide the granularity needed.”
This then cascades down into those evasive, less visible, items. “The scale of assets tracked is based on the success that customers see in the low-hanging fruit (important assets) and evolves into smaller assets that may have other process-related importance. Employing those solutions allows organisations to gain increased visibility of their mission-critical assets through movement forensics that allow for overall operational efficiency improvements.”
VULNERABLE TARGETS
Keeping track of inventory, such as stock and assets, has never been an easy task. However, in the construction sector, for example, the problems are multiplied by factors such as the scale of project being completed, size of the assets involved, and the many comings and goings of an often diverse and transient workforce.
“Construction site theft is an ongoing problem that blights all projects,” states Kamran Ali, business manager at Biosite Systems. “In a survey carried out by the Chartered Institute of Building (www.is.gd/eziqur), 92% of respondents confirmed they had been affected by theft. Twenty-one percent reported weekly site robbery. Among those items most frequently taken were plant, fuel, materials and tools.”
Estimates put construction industry losses at £800 million a year, but actual figures could, in fact, be a lot higher, he believes. “Additionally, the theft of tools, building materials and small plant is also a major issue that plagues the industry – particularly as these crimes are sometimes perpetrated by direct employees or contractors.”
To help prevent this, Ali advises that physical security measures, such as access control and CCTV, be bolstered with systematic and secure inventory management that leaves a clear auditable trail. “Using a spreadsheet or paper-based system to track your stock and kit could end up costing more, due to poor systems and human error.” By contrast, a technology-enabled solution offers a simple online process that allows the user to book out, and in, items against individual worker records. “It provides an online and real-time record of plant, tools and materials at any point in time during the project and, if policed correctly, can effectively reduce losses.”
The cloud-based technology used in the Mosaic Asset Management system (part of Biosite Systems) has been designed to reduce administration and costly mistakes, eradicating outdated methods of tracking and tracing stock and assets, he adds. “It can help with handling material deliveries, keeping a record of all plant equipment, the scheduling of inspections and the issuing of stock, including PPE to the workforce. Being transportable [via smartphone] and updating data in real time, stock is less prone to ‘disappear’ – both in the sense of being stolen or simply misplaced and forgotten about – while inspection reports can be scheduled in advance and stored against each item. This reduces rates of loss, wastage and theft, creating a better culture of responsibility on site.”
UP AND AWAY
Teletrac Navman has a wide range of telematics customers in the construction industry and they all report the same thing – theft is on the up. “Tools are an obvious choice for opportunistic thieves,” says the company’s marketing director Peter Millichap. “However, the majority of the incidences we hear about are usually in relation to medium-sized items that can be easily moved, such as generators, trailers and excavators. The items are too big for an on-site lock-up, and too much hassle to take on and off site every day, so it leaves equipment owners with a bit of a conundrum – what preventive action can they take and what recovery methods can they deploy.
“The majority of our customers have come to us because they need help with managing and deploying their fleet and equipment – as an industry that works to very specific deadlines, visibility is paramount. However, equipment logging and utilisation is also extremely important, particularly in the face of rising theft.”
Teletrac Navman’s integrated hardware and software solution, centred on its Director platform, supports construction equipment usage reporting. “It enables fleet and equipment managers to have access to real-time data in one easy-to-use interface and provides a diverse range of information, from the location of individual vehicles [tracked in real time] to vehicle and equipment utilisation; to equipment logging via a QR (Quick Response) scan that equipment managers can perform at the end of each shift,” adds Millichap. “It also provides stolen vehicle or equipment tracking, should mobile or non-mobile assets provide a ping outside of a geofenced area and time parameter, aiding a speedy recovery of those items.”
Through the Director platform, inventory can be registered and recognised instantly, whether that’s a large fleet vehicle using a hardwired telematics box or a smaller item of equipment that’s being logged through QR scan technology. Once a code from either is picked up, it’s there until deleted from the system. “The software can recognise a staggering amount of assets, more than any business will realistically have, so the onus is on the business to use our platform correctly and on us as a team to ensure they’re equipped to use it effectively,” Millichap concludes.