Asset Tag Label is First Step in Effective Job Site Management

Jobsite management is vital for business owners – in particular, construction companies. The National Equipment Register (NER) estimates that construction companies lose between $300 million and $1 billion in each year due to equipment theft. The asset tag label is a necessity for every asset in your inventory, as well as an accompanying asset tracking and management platform to help you stay on top of every item’s whereabouts, its condition and complete lifecycle information. The NER’s estimate is for equipment only and doesn’t include tools and building materials, which are also subject to theft.

A Closer Look at Job Site Theft

In 2017, LoJack published the LoJack® Corporation Study on Construction Equipment Theft, which details the most frequent items stolen from job sites, the time of year during which theft is most common, and the areas of the United States most frequently affected by theft. It’s an insightful report that underscores why job site management with the asset tag label and asset tracking platform is so critical. Here are a few highlights:

• Loaders are the most common type of equipment stolen (26 percent). That includes backhoes and skid steers both tracked and wheeled. Towables represent 20 percent of theft, including such assets as air compressors, generators, light towers, chippers and welders. Next came excavators, followed by trailers and RVs.
• Florida ranked as the top state for job site theft in 2017 (25.9 percent), although slightly, followed by California (25.7 percent), Texas, Georgia, then Arizona and North Carolina in a tie for fifth place. Florida, California and Texas all provide easy access to ports and/or country borders, making them particularly attractive targets for thieves.
• The top five months for job site thefts in 2017 were January (10.6 percent), followed by April and October (tied at 9.3 percent), then March (9.1 percent). In a blog post for LoJack, writer DJ Thompson speculates that “the reason for more activity during the spring and summer could be that this is also the height of construction season, especially in the northern climates. January typically sees fewer construction projects so thieves might target the furloughed equipment when less monitoring is expected.”

A More Reliable Method of Theft Prevention

There are several immediate measures that business owners can take to deter would-be thieves. The installation of better lighting on job sites, installation of security cameras, fencing and immobilization devices for your equipment all can encourage thieves to look elsewhere. A powerful and reliable asset tracking platform, which includes affixing an asset tag label to each piece of equipment or tool on your job sites, will help you prevent theft and/or loss. When assets aren’t being tracked and managed, it’s extremely easy to discover months down the line that you’ve been paying insurance on ghost assets, or assets that aren’t in your inventory anymore. Each asset tag label stores the entire lifecycle of your fixed asset including its exact location, check-in/check-out status, lease/purchase information, maintenance history, insurance policy and warranty, depreciation, and much more. Storing this data in one centralized location gives the ability to make informed decisions about where you need additional equipment and/or where available equipment might be sitting idle. With real-time information at your fingertips, you can stop guessing and start saving time and money. Best of all, your job sites can proceed without disruption to productivity.

Asset Panda offers customers around the globe an easy way to order an asset tag label for every asset using buyassettags.com. Additionally, our mobile platform delivers the most powerful, yet intuitive system in the world for tracking and managing not only your job site assets, but all of your fixed assets.