A fleet’s operation isn’t just about the vehicles. Every job either needs a tool for a job or a product to deliver. In other words: an asset or an inventory item.
Asset and inventory management systems will help a fleet streamline its operations, and with the right one, larger fleets could save millions of dollars per month. Read on to learn why asset management is so important, and how it can help your fleet.
What is Asset & Inventory Management?
Asset and inventory management refers to the processes that a business uses to document and locate both its assets (items the company owns) and inventory (items the company sells to its customers).
This process requires an asset and inventory management system. This is a combination of hardware units used to locate or identify each asset or inventory item, along with software to host a database of assets and an inventory that can be regularly updated with location and status data from the hardware.
Asset tracking systems can be either active or passive: Passive hardware units must be found and scanned in order to register their data and location. Examples include barcode labels and simple RFID tags. Active hardware units, however, will broadcast their data so that it can be registered without manual effort. Examples include GPS-enabled units, which can send data anywhere in the world, and battery-powered RFID tags, which can typically send data within a range of a little over a mile.
How does it work for Fleets?
Many commercial fleets need either tangible assets like construction or lawn care equipment, or inventory, like deliveries or shipments. And since the point of a fleet is to move something from one location to another, it stands to reason that all those assets and inventory items need to be tracked.
With an asset and inventory management system, fleet management will be able to streamline operations, boost reliability and gain extra data for more informed long-term decision-making.
Do I need Fleet Asset & Inventory Management?
At first glance, asset & inventory management might seem like yet another cost. But the key is to look at the money that having a management system in place will save you.
Here’s a look at how different industries manage their assets and inventory, to give you a picture of how a business’s needs shape what type of management system is best for them.
Industry
Any fleet with a business model that hinges on delivery will benefit from tracking their inventory or assets, as the addition of GPS location data will make Estimated Time of Arrival (ETA) estimates more frequent and more accurate. The impact? Higher customer satisfaction and retention.
Increased asset lifespan is another key benefit for any industry that relies on its assets, as routine updates and maintenance can be tracked within the system rather than manually.
Did you know? In some industries, assets are so essential that when they go missing, they hold up an entire department. Rodney Hester, Director of Operations and Supply Chain at Catapult Health, estimates that they’ve saved three to four hours per day by upgrading to an asset tracking system and eliminating the occasional hunt for a misplaced piece of $10,000 medical equipment.
Fleet Size
As your fleet grows, data centralization becomes essential. Any time spent collecting and managing data is time lost to other tasks, and growth brings new drivers, vehicles, locations, routes, and schedules. An asset and inventory management system with active tracking units makes it all easy, sending location and status data to a manager’s desktop in real time.
The ability to hold employees accountable for returning tools is another benefit: Electric and telecommunications company Track Utilities estimates that its asset management solution saves it 32 work hours per month, due in part to employee awareness of who is responsible for which assets.
Vehicle Type
Better asset location data will help fleets boost their trailer efficiency, as managers will know instantly how full or empty a vehicle load is. This is useful for any fleets designed for less than truckload (LTL) shipping, as they’ll be making multiple stops per trip: The fuller their trailer is at the beginning, the more efficient their trip will be overall.
More specific vehicle types can also benefit from unique features. For instance, refrigerated reefer trailers might use an asset tracking unit that monitors trailer temperature, alerting drivers if it passes a temperature threshold that may threaten the cargo.
Distance Travelled
Travel routes can be more easily optimized by managers who already know where their assets and inventory are located. They’ll know ahead of time which assets need to be delivered and which are on-site already, with no need for guesswork that could result in an unnecessary trip.
Depending on the features offered by the tracking system, some fleets may set up geofencing alerts for their important assets, ensuring that if an asset leaves its designated region, a manager is automatically notified.
Best Fleet Asset & Inventory Management Companies
Fleet-specific asset and inventory management systems potentially offer another big benefit: The ability to be integrated with the main fleet management system, or FMS. With the right setup, a manager can track and monitor their fleet, their assets, and their inventory all from one dashboard.
Here, we’ve looked at the top fleet asset & inventory management vendors, with an eye to which systems can be easily integrated with a full FMS solution, as well as which services are best suited for small or large fleet operations.
Small business (1-4 vehicles)
Azuga offers an FMS for small businesses, with asset tracking capabilities included. A fleet’s average annual savings with this FMS are $9,462, according to Azuga, and its features make it a great fit for ten different industries, including Construction, Electrical, and HVAC.
GPS Insight’s Standard plan is aimed at both small and mid-sized fleets, with its main GPS tracking system available for $29.95 per month per asset, and a heavy equipment and trailer-specific plan available at $16.95 per month per asset.
Nextraq is another option, and comes with a unique feature: Asset trackers with solar-charged batteries. Smaller fleets could benefit from solar power if located in remote regions without reliable access to other power sources.
Medium Fleets (5 – 25 vehicles)
In addition to GPS Insight’s plan, Teletrac offers several different types of asset tracking systems that integrate with its main FMS service. Their Complete Asset Management system supports both powered and non-powered GPS tracking as well as QR codes, which should be enough to serve both the asset and inventory tracking needs of most small and mid-sized fleets.
In addition, Teletrac has a separate Heavy Equipment Tracking system. This offers utilization reporting and preventative maintenance scheduling in addition to GPS tracking, making it a great option for mixed fleets that need to get the most use out of heavy, high-value machinery. Teletrac’s third and final plan is the Enterprise one, for large fleets.
Large fleets (26+ vehicles)
Verizon, Samsara, and Teletrac are larger fleet management providers, making them strong choices for larger fleets, as they support a broad range of features, come with large customer support teams, and offer dedicated account managers with their enterprise FMS solutions.
Samsara’s FMS supports electric and hybrid vehicles as well, letting managers track charge. Verizon’s asset tracking is also available through its field service software, which may make it an attractive option for field service companies that need to track their assets but don’t require a full FMS. Each company offers its own version of an Enterprise asset and inventory tracking system, though you’ll need to get in touch directly to receive a custom quote.
Benefits of Asset & Inventory Management
The right asset and inventory management system offers a holistic benefit across an entire fleet. Here are the four main benefits to adapting one, all of which will dramatically impact your bottom line.
Evaluate Operations
Any powered asset tracking systems include a suite of status tracking features that monitor engine hours, fuel use, and mileage, if applicable. This real-time data lets managers know their workforce’s capacity at any given time.
Even for non-powered assets or inventory, knowing items’ locations will help managers learn which inventory items sell the fastest and how frequently certain assets are moved. This data only gets more valuable over time, since a greater amount of historical data makes for more accurate decisions about where to shift resources.
Improve your Part Management
The key to keeping assets running smoothly is to be ready for when they aren’t. Part management refers to the system that keeps the right replacement on hand when a part on any asset breaks.
Tracking regular maintenance is a core function of part management, as it allows powered assets to be serviced with fuel, oil and part replacements when needed. Historical data is another valuable feature, since it helps managers make data-driven choices about which spare parts are most frequently needed. Finally, since all spare parts and assets are tracked, managers can quickly alert employees as to the nearest part, should an asset break down on the job.
Reliability & Durability
Asset tracking systems will allow a fleet to set limits on powered asset use, such as geofencing to determine the operating region, and the hours during which the asset can be used. This avoids overtime while trimming out unneeded downtime.
Status data also lets managers determine how frequently their assets need to be entirely replaced. Some services even automate their data collection, as with Samsara’s automated inventory reporting, which delivers data insights to managers rather than making them compile reports themselves.
Optimize Asset Utilization
Assets can be categorized as dormant when not in use. They’ll still be tracked, but will be easier to find for managers hoping to put them back in use. Asset tracking systems can also prevent lost or stolen assets, an issue that can add up faster than many think. Take just one industry as an example: Lost heavy construction equipment in the US comes out to between $300 million and $1 billion per year.
In addition, fleets can pass their newfound knowledge of asset usage on to the customers, with automated invoice generation that includes specifics on which assets were used for a job and where.
Optimize Inventory Levels
Inventory tracking system features like inventory reporting and inventory location history ensure that inventory won’t be misplaced or stolen. The historical data from these features also helps managers order the right amount of inventory, while restocking alerts help them order at the right time.
Understand the True Cost of Your Assets
The cost of an asset includes far more than just its core market value. The cost of the asset to a fleet includes its ongoing insurance and its maintenance. This can be weighed against the value that the asset will hold when it is sold (a value that drops each year as the asset depreciates).
But if we put aside these tangible costs, there’s still the value that the asset brings to a fleet. Assuming the asset is functioning as normal thanks to that maintenance, there’s just one big factor, which is the percentage of assets that are used each day. If the percentage is too low, the fleet either needs to ramp up its operations to use more assets, or needs to sell some assets in order to ensure fewer assets go unused. One rule of thumb is that 90% of a fleet’s assets should be used during any given 24-hour period.
A good asset tracking system can significantly reduce a fleet’s turnaround time, the length of time it takes to reload an empty vehicle after it has returned to the truck yard. After the Alexander Lumber Company adapted GPS Insights’ tracking system, for instance, they cut their 100-plus-vehicle fleet’s turnaround time down to 14 minutes, saving a whopping $1.4 million per month.
Granted, that case study included a full FMS, not just asset tracking, but it is clear that the system more than paid for itself in costs saved.
Developing a Fleet Asset Management Plan
Now you should be ready to start developing an asset management plan for your fleet.
And any fleet should work towards making the most from their assets, and an asset management system is the key. With the right system and a manager who knows how to use it, a fleet can keep its assets at maximum usage and operate at peak efficiency.
