In the present fast-paced and highly competitive business environment, effective inventory management is essential for any organization looking to optimize its operations.
One of the essential aspects of inventory management that often gets overlooked is asset tracking. Thus, by incorporating a robust management system, the business can improve its inventory management process, maximize profitability, and boost productivity.
In this article, you will discover the contribution of asset tracking technology in managing a business’s inventory.
So, without further delay, let’s get started.
Purpose Of Asset Inventory Management
Asset management is concerned with having an up-to-date inventory of your business’s assets.
Thus, inventory management is a part of an asset management strategy that aims to:
- Create a central repository of every asset that the company wants to track.
- Track the physical location of the company’s assets, such as construction equipment and transportation, that are used in different places.
- Track asset performance.
- Track the utilization of assets.
- Track the condition of the assets (often by looking at their maintenance history).
- Track the assets through their lifecycle. This will help to maintain separate accounts for depreciating fixed assets.
You can also apply all of these to every single asset. Similarly, you are not going to measure the performance of your furniture and track whether your building ventilation moved to a different location.
Role Of Asset Tracking In Managing Asset Inventory Management
Asset tracking uses an electronic system to track the asset’s current location, storage location, user, and condition.
Therefore, there are multiple ways to track assets, and they are:
- GPS.
- RFID.
- Scannable barcode labels.
- Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE).
Therefore, each asset has a unique asset ID, so you need to make sure everything is clear when having multiple assets of the same type. For similar reasons, it is adequate to have technology maintain your assets with accompanying asset logs.
Asset Tracking In Telematics
Whether you own a large or small business, or your transport needs are advanced or straightforward, telematics has the right solution.
Telematics will help you keep your fleet, assets, and equipment on track. In addition, you can keep your:
- Vehicle and driver safe.
- Provide insightful information to assist in reducing costs.
- Safeguard your business from theft.
Besides, asset tracking in telematics offers assistance to small, medium, and large enterprises. These services further make it easy for your fleet owners and managers, often out of the office, to maintain eyes on their fleet.
How Are Asset Tracking Technologies Assisting Modern Business?
Below are the asset tracking systems’ contributions to modern business settings.
1. Improved Productivity
Comprehensive knowledge about every asset’s whereabouts, condition, and usage rate significantly enhances productivity across various aspects of an organization’s operations.
Therefore, when employees know about an asset’s location, they can save precious time that would otherwise be spent finding out where the asset is situated.
Hence, this system will enable your business to streamline asset access and ensure uninterrupted and efficient operational workflows.
Moreover, tracking how assets are utilized, and their performance metrics enables an organization to make informed decisions about asset management.
Moreover, the system aids in planning upgrades or acquiring new assets that align with the company’s actual demands and utilization patterns.
2. Ability To Estimate Asset Value
An Asset Information Management (AIM) system is invaluable for gathering this crucial data, exceptionally if its database is meticulously maintained and kept current.
Therefore, such a system offers an organized repository of detailed asset information. Besides, the system facilitates your business by accurately calculating depreciation.
Furthermore, integrating records from a Computerized Maintenance Management System (CMMS) or an Enterprise Asset Management (EAM) offers even greater insights for a more in-depth analysis.
However, these systems track detailed asset logs and maintenance histories, providing a clearer picture of an asset’s current condition and helping to estimate its remaining helpful life more accurately.
Thus, by leveraging the combined capabilities of AIM systems and EAM/CMMS systems, your business can ensure that its assets are depreciated in the most accurate and informed manner possible.
3. Lower Operational Cost
Assets are vital for conducting business operations.
If your company assets are lost or stolen, it increases operational costs as replacements must be purchased. Thus, keeping an updated asset inventory merged with asset tracking is essential in preventing these issues.
Moreover, implementing software for asset inventory management systems reduces the need for manual data entry, reduces administrative work, and minimizes the requirement for time-consuming asset inventory checks.
This ultimately results in decreased labor and operational costs.
4. Coordinate Complex Work
Scheduling for asset maintenance is much easier than arranging routine maintenance work. So, if it is for a straightforward reason, broken assets are of no use.
So, if you plan to maintain operational assets’ downtime, you cannot do that on a whim. Similarly, it does not matter if you communicate about reinstalling Windows on an office PC or shutting down the convey belt for a monthly audit.
Moreover, you can only work when the asset will be free to disrupt operational activities.
In addition, you need to be aware of when to schedule maintenance.
5. Updates Future Purchase
Having a pulse on your asset inventory is essential for optimizing your pavement process and organizing new purchases.
For instance, let’s say you have over 20 laptops available for your workforce. This ensures that work utilization is tracked effectively and that you can anticipate if you need any additional computer equipment.
Furthermore, you have many assets of the same type but from different vendors. Here is your opportunity to compare asset performance and maintain cost.
Similarly, you get to know all your vendors and how they offer value to the services.
6. Mitigates Loss And Prevents Theft
Implementing asset tracking systems is one such measure that has shown to be effective in enhancing security and mitigating losses.
Therefore, these systems are designed to monitor the location and movement of assets in real-time. They can provide instant alerts and notifications when an asset moves unauthorized or out of its designated area.
Eventually, this immediate awareness enables businesses to respond quickly to potential theft. This will significantly increase the likelihood of recovering the stolen assets and preventing financial loss.
In addition, the benefits of asset tracking extend beyond deterring theft.
Similarly, by constantly monitoring where assets are, companies can optimize their operations, reduce the time spent searching for misplaced items, and ensure that assets are utilized efficiently.
Hence, this translates into improved productivity and cost savings, further contributing to the bottom line.
Best Practices: Managing Asset Inventory
Here are some best practices that will help you manage your asset inventory.
1. Start With Clear Data
You need a stable foundation based on accurate data to build vital assets.
In the first step, you need to list all assets you want to track and anticipate the metrics you want to track for each type of asset.
2. Set Up Clear Operating Procedures
Here are some guidelines explained for things like:
- How can you leave notifications or feedback?
- Procedure for taking assets out of storage.
- The suitable method of updating the system when an asset changes its current user.
- Method and policies for new asset acquisition.
- Technique to return the asset to the store.
Lead The Future With The Best Asset Tracking Technology
In addition, the asset inventory gets much harder as the number of assets starts appreciating.
Similarly, enterprises have yet to implement asset management and tracking solutions to control their inventory and assets.
So, if you plan to optimize your business operation, you must incorporate asset-tracking software.
