Construction equipment asset management is vital in helping a construction firm manage and maintain its tools, trucks, heavy equipment, machinery, and more. Construction equipment is expensive and highly valuable, so poor management can result in challenges such as equipment misuse, repair delays, or theft. These issues can cause construction delays and compromise worker safety, not to mention the cost that contractors have to bear to remedy such problems.
Understanding equipment management
Equipment asset management in construction refers to effectively managing and monitoring a construction company’s tools, equipment, machinery, and other items needed to complete a project.
Construction equipment asset management allows for the efficient organization of a company’s resources in an effort to improve overall visibility and accountability and to ensure that everything is in place for on-time project completion.
Challenges in construction asset management
As mentioned earlier, construction businesses are large operations that inevitably face several asset-related challenges, especially without an asset management system. Among the key challenges are:
Asset theft
The National Equipment Register estimates a total loss of $300 million to $1 billion dollars from stolen construction equipment and machinery per year. Despite being large, heavy machinery is apparently one of the easiest targets among thieves due to its hefty price tag and often poor security. This makes asset tagging and recording paramount when managing construction equipment.
Poor tracking
Even if tools and assets aren’t stolen, having them misplaced can also cause issues. Construction equipment moves a lot from various job sites to different workers, and so on. Firms without inventory control and equipment tracking measures in place can spend a lot of valuable time looking for missing equipment and money on replacing assets that could otherwise have been tracked properly.
Poor maintenance
Without proper management, it can be hard to keep track of maintenance and repair schedules. This can result in equipment breakdown or malfunctions and can inevitably cost contractors huge sums of money to repair or replace an asset. When proper construction equipment asset management is in place, it’s much easier to track when something should be brought in for maintenance or repairs before it breaks down to total disrepair.
Benefits of equipment management
Equipment asset management provides construction companies with several benefits:
Full asset visibility
You can get a clear insight into all your assets throughout their lifecycle, making it easier to make smarter and more informed decisions when it’s time to add, repair, or replace equipment. It’s also easier to track equipment as they change hands and move across job sites.
Reduced theft risk
Asset tracking via GPS can dramatically reduce shrinkage, especially when paired with security measures to alert you whenever an asset leaves a certain “safe zone”, like a well-organized tool crib, based on geofencing. This deters thieves and helps you retrieve stolen assets easily.
More efficient repairs
You can more efficiently manage routine repairs and maintenance checks to prevent these from cutting your profits. Instead of having equipment break down at inopportune times, efficient management ensures that your machinery and equipment are well-maintained and ready for the job.
Streamline your equipment management process with Fishbowl
Construction equipment asset management software can help address many of the inefficiencies and challenges that come with poor (or absent) equipment asset management. With a centralized, intuitive system that enables you to keep track of all your assets, you can enjoy a more productive and safe workplace for all your workers across job sites.