If you’re in charge of a fleet that includes both commercial motor vehicles and construction equipment, monitoring can be a challenge. Yet a good monitoring system can be vital to keeping your fleet running efficiently and maximizing productivity. Fortunately, telematics is not only incredibly useful for monitoring construction equipment productivity, but also for keeping track of your entire fleet.
Construction Equipment Monitoring
The first piece of the puzzle is the ability to know where all of your heavy equipment is at any time. When you need something for a job, you should be able to instantly locate it and send it to the correct location. If you have several storage yards with multiples of each type of equipment, this can be a challenge.
Tracking each piece of equipment means you can see where every vehicle is at any time. Some companies use traditional bar code systems to track equipment movement, but this can allow for human error. If someone forgets to scan a piece of equipment when they move it, you may have difficulty locating that item again until a full inventory is performed.
Instead, use a GPS tracking system. With a tracker installed on each asset, you’ll always know where your equipment is located. If it moves, you won’t have to rely on someone scanning a barcode, its location will be automatically updated. You can even track equipment while it’s in transit, allowing you to pinpoint precisely when it will arrive at a job site.
Monitor Construction Equipment Productivity
Once you know where everything can be found, it’s time to take the next step and learn how everything is being used. Telematics can track your equipment’s productivity, reporting to you how often each asset is being used and how much time it spends sitting idle.
For large companies, it’s not uncommon to have redundancy in construction equipment. But expensive equipment is costly to maintain and store. If your yard houses five backhoes but you really only need three, that’s a lot of wasted capital that could be put to better use.
Proper tracking software can also help you make the most of the assets you have available. When you’re juggling several job sites, it’s important to have the right equipment at your disposal. If something breaks down or needs to be serviced, that’s a delay that can derail your project schedule. Instead, use maintenance scheduling features in your tracking software to ensure all your equipment is kept in peak condition, ready to go at a moment’s notice.
Prevent Construction Equipment Vehicle Theft
Construction equipment is expensive, yet it’s often left unprotected on job sites where it can fall prey to theft. You can’t keep all your heavy equipment locked up 24/7, so it’s hard to ensure its security. The most recent Equipment Theft Report from the National Equipment Register estimates that construction equipment thefts amount to somewhere between $300 million and $1 billion annually. And only about a quarter of the assets stolen are ever recovered.
Fortunately, GPS tracking technology with geofencing capabilities is helping to drive down thefts in the industry. Geofencing allows you to set a virtual boundary around job sites, storage yards, and any other location you might have equipment stored. If an asset passes through the virtual fence, you’ll get an alert automatically. So you’ll know as soon as an asset is on the move, whether your people are on-site at the time or not. Then, you can track the vehicle or equipment using its GPS signal, making recovery of a stolen asset quick and easy.
Geofencing works to prevent theft, but it’s also useful for another problem plaguing the industry. Unauthorized use of equipment can be both costly and dangerous. It exposes your company to unnecessary liability. With geofencing and GPS tracking, you’ll be able to stop unauthorized use before a problem arises.
Track Your Whole Fleet and Other Assets Too
If your fleet is like many, you probably have a mix of assets including construction equipment, commercial motor vehicles, and other large equipment. This may include dumpsters, generators, road signage, containers, pumps, and other powered and non-powered assets. A fully functioning GPS system should allow you to track it all in one convenient interface.
For powered assets, you’ll want a solution that connects to all types of vehicles. You’ll also want rechargeable battery-powered trackers for equipment that is used sporadically. Finally, you’ll want a long-life battery tracker that can run for years without being plugged into a power source. Then, you’ll want it all to be easily displayed on a single map, so you can view your whole fleet at a glance or select only specific assets to view at a time.
It’s easy to see how useful asset tracking can be for construction equipment and other large assets. If your asset monitoring system doesn’t offer you the features above, it might be time to look for a new one. Check out our GPS Asset Tracking Guide for more information on how telematics can benefit your business today.
