What Are the Benefits & Drawbacks of Equipment Tracking Software?

Organizations have a plethora of assets and machines. Managing & keeping them secured from theft or misplacement is a challenge itself.

Lots of employees use assets & exchange them with each other. Some pieces of equipment are sent for maintenance. They are not informed as a result; assets are lost and misplaced.

Therefore, it needs to be properly documented. This is where equipment tracking software begins to work!

What Is Equipment Tracking Software?

Equipment tracking software is an automated way to keep track of pieces of equipment. It is very essential to keep track of assets. Lots of organizations suffer from loss due to asset theft and misplacement.

According to the JW Surety Bonds,  “Employee theft is responsible for 42.7% of total inventory loss in US stores. 33% of all business bankruptcies in the US are a result of employee theft. This equals $50 billion annually.”

So, this software eliminates the manual methods of tracking equipment. It ensures asset & equipment safety and their security as well. After that equipment tracking software also helps in asset management especially in maintenance.

They keep track of assets so that maintenance is provided to each asset without skipping any maintenance. When you skip maintenance, the impact can be seen clearly in asset performance.

Which Industries Can Use Equipment Tracking Software?

Below we have discussed few industries for whom equipment tracking software can be beneficial.

1. Healthcare Industry

The healthcare industry especially hospitals must know the exact location of each piece of equipment as it can be the matter of life and death. You don't want that during surgery, your team is looking for some specific equipment that is nowhere to be found.

2. Automobile Industry

The automobile industry equipment is essential for business as it can impact business badly if products are not delivered on time.

3. Construction Industry

Construction work changes from one venue to another and equipment are moved from one location to another. This is where the chances of equipment loss or misplacement increase.

Other than this audio-video industry, the education industry and IT (Information & Technology) industry can use equipment tracking software. It can keep track of equipment in real-time so you don't have to worry about equipment and asset location.

Also Read: What Are the Objectives & Functions of Maintenance Management?

What Are the Benefits of Equipment Tracking Software?

The benefits of equipment tracking software are discussed below:

1. Eliminating Manual Process

The manual process is one of the main reasons why errors occur in the operation. It is also responsible for circulating wrong information. Manual management of work leads to inaccuracy that also leads to inaccurate decisions making.

But equipment tracking software eliminates the manual process and makes the process automated. It is accurate and chances of error are minimized.

2. Equipment Check-in Check-out

When there are lots of assets then managing them is a complex & tricky part. This is where equipment tracking software comes into use. It keeps track of assets by assigning assets to employees and when they will be returned!

Meanwhile, complete information is also stored in the system so that this software alerts both parties for returning assets so that no one forgets! It makes employees responsible for the asset.

3. Managing Equipment Lifecycle

One of the major benefits of equipment tracking software is better lifecycle management for equipment. The software permits a business to track utilization and to set dates for upkeep or substitution of gear.

This is not normal for manual following where sincere beliefs decide if a specific piece of gear gets maintenance or not. Hardware that requires maintenance will be fixed instantly before it quits working.

An ideal software shall keep track of assets from acquisition to disposal. Furthermore, it shall also keep a tab of maintenance expenses, asset depreciation, and asset downtime & salvage value as well.

4. Easy Maintenance

Inefficient management can result in damaged pieces of equipment. When pieces of equipment are damaged, they result in an increased amount of maintenance.

Nobody wants to pay unnecessary maintenance expenses. With the assistance of equipment tracking and maintenance software, you can keep monitoring and managing each asset's maintenance.

This software also lets you know which asset need maintenance which asset are under warranty period. Furthermore, it alerts and reminds about the maintenance.

Also Read: How Preventive Maintenance Discard Common Conveyor Issues?

What Are the Drawbacks of Equipment Tracking Software?

The drawbacks of equipment tracking software are discussed below:

1. System Crash

The problem with this type of automated software is that they are prone to crash. When the team searches to find data as per their requirement, sometimes the system is not able to process data and when several commands are given simultaneously, the system can crash. That is why managers should keep storing backup data regularly to avoid any data loss.

2. Diminished Physical Audits

When everything is computerized, it is not difficult to forego tedious actual inventory reviews. They may presently don't appear to be important when the automated system is managing their job.

In any case, it is critical to keep on doing standard reviews to recognize misfortune like decay or breakage of inventory. Physical audits likewise help entrepreneurs recognize possible inward theft and manipulation of equipment tracking software.

3. Data Theft & Hacking

Now as the technology is rising it has its good and bad side as well. Hacking is one of the curses of technology. Hackers search for any approach to get organization or purchaser data.

An automated system associated with point-of-sale gadgets and bookkeeping is an important resource to hack into looking for expected monetary data or individual subtleties of proprietors, merchants, or customers. Refreshing or updating firewalls and against infection programming can moderate this possible issue.

Conclusion

Equipment tracking software works efficiently but to make it more accurate, you can choose between several asset tracking technologies.

These asset tracking technologies such as barcode, QR Code, RFID, etc. These technologies come in the form of tags and these technologies have their advantages and disadvantages.

Equipment tracking software is a type of asset management software that helps businesses in several ways. Equipment tracking software features help monitor assets to scheduling maintenance.

Furthermore, equipment tracking software also provides benefits with great insights into the assets that help in minimizing asset expenses. Undoubtedly, it can assist your business if you have a lot of assets.

Also Read: What Are the Steps to Improve the Asset Maintenance Process?

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

1. Does equipment tracking software help in enhancing the productivity of employees?‍

Yes, it can help in increasing the productivity of employees. For instance, employees will not be wasting time looking for their assets as they can find their equipment with this software in no time. For the maintenance team, this software lets them know in advance what activities need to be done so it saves time and enhances productivity.

2. How equipment tracking software provides real-time information?‍

With the help of asset tracking methods, equipment tracking software provides real-time information.

3. How real-time information helps in productive decision-making?‍

Real-time information is very helpful in productive decision-making. Here is an example, real-time information lets you know the accurate inventory left in the stock.

Whenever the inventory goes below the defined level it alerts the responsible person and this person starts the stock refilling process! Real-time information provides peace and it is a stress buster, as employees know the exact location of each piece of equipment.