Mobile asset management

Mobile inventory system

Mobile asset management is managing availability and serviceability of assets used to move, store, secure, protect and control inventory within the enterprise and along the supply chain or in conjunction with service providing. Mobile assets are e. g. of the classes of
returnable, reusable containers used to transport raw materials, work in progress and finished goods through the supply chain. precious tools and apparatuses used in technical services and required for proper performing such services with fully valid certification
any other objects of a value that justifies additional tagging for the purpose of managing the object and its availability
any other objects with a certification that terminates after certain time which justifies the controlled return for next inspection
persons under special threat on site of operation. Rental companies are increasingly turning to asset tracking for all larger pieces of equipment in order to manage theft, misuse of assets and to assist in the management of Preventive maintenance

Persons may be tracked within a controlled geographical area; e. g. hospital patients, visitors in a secure facility, or workers in power plants, chemical plants, or tunnel construction sites. People can be actively tracked to locate them reliably and quickly in the unfortunate case of disaster. Person tracking is a highly specialized application that requires special purpose technology, and is only workable within a specific, controlled environment. Tracking an individual person in an open, uncontrolled environment without special instrumentation is not realistically possible.

These assets are often in the hands of third party entities (such as suppliers, customers, logistics providers and carriers) and out of sight and control of the owning entity. They usually represent a significant capital expenditure for companies and their management and maintenance is resource intensive. On average, businesses spend 5% of annual revenue on logistics assets, and almost one fifth of respondents spend more than 10%. The annual costs include the replacement of lost or damaged special containers, where typically up to 30% of the containers are surplus in circulation just because nobody knows when and where.

Mobile asset management providers manage asset operation within the supply chain, directing the activities of a client’s third party logistics company as needed and ensure proper services are performed on the asset (handling, cleaning, maintenance, repair). These providers also study business processes within the supply chain and help optimize each process.

Different methods exist to track and manage mobile assets. Today, companies use labor intensive manual processes to track assets between manufacturers and distributors, which can result in higher supply chain costs and processes that are less reliable due to natural human error. Specific identification of the container’s origin and destination is virtually impossible under this method.

More sophisticated mobile asset management companies use the most advanced means of tracking assets available today, such as radio frequency identification. RFID automatically captures data on each individual container and can indicate container contents without ever having to open the container. This technology is also combined with software applications that collect, maintain, track and analyze the data and provide customized reporting of the location, status, and audit and maintenance history of each asset. For example, Wayne Memorial hospital has saved $300,000 by tracking for infusion pumps with RFID technology that can piggyback on the Wi Fi system already in place.