by: Karen Bradley
Many fleet managers have discovered the advantages of GPS vehicle tracking for a variety of reasons. From correcting driver behavior to better routing, maintenance scheduling, and theft protection, fleet tracking and monitoring are a must for many businesses. GPS tracking systems can do much more, including tracking of Heavy Equipment such as tractors and backhoes.
This enables construction companies and other businesses that own and operate powered and non-powered assets and equipment to track and monitor them. Here are some reasons why GPS fleet monitoring is important in the construction industry.
One of the biggest advantages to tracking assets is the prevention of theft. GPS tracking for construction equipment helps protect valuable equipment. Often equipment is left at job sites for weeks at a time, and you may not even know it has been stolen. GPS tracking helps you see as soon as equipment moves, allowing you to alert authorities who can respond quickly.
Even if your equipment is stolen, GPS tracking will help the authorities track, locate, and recover stolen assets.
How often is your equipment just sitting idle rather than being used while on a job site? How much time does it spend idling, but not moving, meaning both fuel and labor are potentially being wasted? With the best GPS tracker for heavy equipment, you can set parameters for the time and even the area equipment should be used in.
Active monitoring means you don’t have to be watching the screen to know what is going on. You’ll get alerts when a piece of equipment operates outside set parameters, determine why, and then take action if need be.
While many pieces of equipment come with factory-installed telemetrics, they are not necessarily connected to other equipment. By deploying a dedicated GPS tracking system, you can see how your equipment is being used across geographic areas.
For example, you might have eight job sites and two backhoes. You’d have to call around to the job sites to find out where it is for the location you need it. It can save hours trying to track down equipment. With your GPS tracking and monitoring system, you can also see at a glance if the equipment is being used currently.
You might also have a job site where you rented a piece of equipment to meet a certain need. However, you may have a similar asset not far away sitting idle, and simply moving that equipment can save you rental fees and reduce costs.
You can also use the reports generated to determine if a job is progressing at the speed it should be based on equipment usage. If not, you can track and correct the inefficiency.
Also, you can track non-powered assets like trailers, storage containers, and even dumpsters that might be underused on one job site but could prove valuable on others. An empty dumpster can be transferred to a site where an additional one is needed rather than adding another duplicate asset. There are countless ways to use utilization data to trim costs, cut inefficiency, and improve your bottom line.
Want to keep maintenance records up to date? To be sure maintenance is done on time, equipment monitoring and tracking records running hours, mileage, and other milestones, alerting you when maintenance needs to be performed. You can set these parameters yourself, so you get alerts when you need them.
This helps improve job site efficiency, equipment life, and employee safety. GPS tracking for construction equipment results in a more structured and consistent maintenance plan.
Your equipment and your employees may often operate in remote areas where cellular coverage is spotty or non-existent. GPS vehicle tracking and asset management let you “see” equipment movements and operations remotely.
This helps protect your equipment in those areas but can also alert you if a vehicle is not moving for an extended period, which may prompt you to check on the employee in that area – especially if they are working alone.
Perhaps the biggest benefit is knowing where equipment is at all times. Without tracking, you could spend a lot of time calling around to find out where the equipment you need for a current job is located. With GPS tracking, you not only know where equipment is, but you can view the usage of that equipment to determine if it is currently being used.
How is GPS used in construction? The primary way is to prevent theft, reduce costs, and increase efficiency.
With most construction companies operating on a profit margin of 2-8%, keeping costs in line while finishing jobs under budget and on time is more important than ever. The savings in fuel and maintenance efficiency alone will result in revenue savings.
But there are other cost reductions as well. Actively showing your insurance company that you are tracking vehicles means less risk for them and lower rates for you. Improving employee safety and efficiency also results in cost-efficiencies.
So what assets can you track?
With a GPS tracking system for construction equipment, you can track almost any valued asset, powered, and non-powered. Fleet tracking is not just limited to trucks or vehicles. Motored assets you can track include, but are not limited to:
Non-powered equipment includes, but is not limited to:
Of course, tracking a variety of equipment means that you will need a variety of devices. The device you use to track your yellow iron will be more complex than the GPS tracking device for a dumpster or storage container.
The same is true for your entire equipment fleet. From tracking trucks and trailers to generators, landscaping equipment, and more, the type and capability of devices you choose can make all the difference. Also, you want to be able to monitor them all from one central location.
That means you need to find the right GPS vehicle tracking partner. At EcoTrack Fleet Management, we offer a variety of tracking devices and equipment to meet your needs, and we offer monitoring solutions and reporting for nearly any application.
Contact EcoTrackFleet Management today for all your GPS tracking needs.
