The advantage of Bluetooth tags for efficient equipment management
| March 2022 |.
Why track all your assets?
Of course, there is no simple and appropriate answer to this question, because it depends entirely on your business activities and types of business assets you work with. However, the main reason is quite simple: you want to know where your assets are. Depending on the deployment of your assets, asset tracking can streamline the operational functioning of your your business in several ways.
For example, in shipping, asset tracking can give customers an accurate estimated time of arrival. In construction and agriculture, it can help keep valuable equipment from being lost. For waste container rentals or portable toilets, it can show the start and end of a rental period. The applications are limited only by necessity and creativity.
Therefore, companies have come up with numerous ways and technological solutions to track their business assets. Today, there is a huge variety of GPS tracking devices with various additional features, such as sensors or inputs/outputs to connect to other hardware and send the data to management systems. So why choose to track your assets using Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) tags?
Why use BLE tags?
First, compared to traditional GPS tracking units, they are very small and very easy to use. In most cases, all you have to do is stick a BLE beacon on an object you want to track. You don't need specific skills or qualified technicians to do this. Second, BLE tags are also cheaper to purchase and use because of their simple design and functionality. Moreover, BLE tags are very durable and because of their high energy efficiency. Their battery can last up to 20 years, depending on the specific model.
This in itself is a huge advantage because you don't have to worry about providing a power source for the tracker.
It makes them perfect for tracking equipment such as power tools in construction or specialized machinery in agriculture, logging and various other industries. However, they can also be used in any other scenario where you want to track your assets. As mentioned earlier, large waste containers and portable toilets, as well as portable saunas, vending machines and food trucks-trailers, are excellent examples. In these cases, you can not only oversee and manage the location of your assets, but also create reports and invoices for your customers based on location changes.
How does a BLE tag work?
Unlike more traditional GPS tracking devices, BLE tags do not always actively transmit their location data. Instead, they transmit a radio signal. This allows them to remain more energy efficient. Therefore, the tags must be scanned by another device to determine or change their location. The scan happens automatically when a device that can scan the BLE tags is within a predefined distance, such as 250 meters.
In practice, this means that a BLE tag location in All-Connects' management application is renewed (the tag is scanned) every time a vehicle equipped with a GPS tracker drives by or goes to the location where your assets are located. Therefore, it can help you locate tools and equipment on the road or at the job site where your staff works and see if anything is missing and when they were last present. Similarly, location changes can also mean the end of a service provided when equipment is returned to the warehouse or moved to a new location.
Get free advice
Have this blog answered your questions and are you ready to talk to us about BLE asset tracking? Call us for an exploratory meeting: 03 289 55 35, or contact us online below. We'll explain how telematics tracking can work for you, answer your questions, and send you a no-obligation proposal tailored 100% to your needs.
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