Industrial Asset Tracking: Locate and Track Your Assets in Real Time

Add up all the minutes your teams spend over the course of a year looking for a cart, a workbench, or testing equipment. The total is always surprising.

This time doesn’t show up on any dashboard because it’s scattered across hundreds of small searches. Yet it represents paid time and slowed-down production. Asset tracking makes this search process transparent: each asset continuously reports its location without requiring an operator to manually track it.

Locate My Assets

Tracking an asset is not the same as taking inventory of it

Just knowing that you have a piece of equipment doesn’t tell you where it is right now. An inventory is a snapshot at a given moment. Asset tracking, on the other hand, is a movie.

The one piece of data that changes everything is the third one: the actual utilization rate. It’s this metric that reveals idle equipment—the equipment we think is missing and end up buying again, even though it’s sitting idle in another area. Once you see what you actually have and how it moves around, you stop buying duplicates and can size your equipment fleet just right.

The Hidden Cost of Research

An operator who is looking for a forklift isn’t getting any work done. A technician waiting for shared testing equipment falls behind on his job. When a lifting attachment can’t be found, the operation is sometimes postponed because the right equipment isn’t on hand.

Taken one by one, these losses are insignificant. But when they add up across a portfolio of several hundred assets over the course of a year, they take a heavy toll. Asset tracking doesn’t eliminate the work; it eliminates the waiting and uncertainty that come with it.

Choose the technology based on the required accuracy

There is no single “best” location technology in absolute terms. There is, however, the technology that meets your actual accuracy needs at the right cost. That is the key to a successful asset tracking project. We explore this in detail in our RTLS vs. RFID comparison.

UHF RFID: The Zone and the Passage

Passive UHF RFID requires no battery or maintenance on the tag. It indicates which zone an asset is located in and records its movements at reading points: a door, an aisle, or a storage rack. For many fleets, knowing that “the asset is in Zone C” is more than enough, and this is the most cost-effective solution.

UWB RTLS: Centimeter-Level Positioning

When you need to locate a specific item in a large workshop, you switch to UWB RTLS, which pinpoints the location to within a few dozen centimeters. The tag is active and battery-powered; it communicates with fixed anchors. This level of precision is reserved for areas where it’s warranted, as it’s more expensive to deploy.

BLE, Wi-Fi, and LoRa: Wide Coverage or Outdoor Use

BLE covers large areas at a lower cost when accuracy down to the meter is sufficient. Wi-Fi relies on infrastructure that is often already in place. For large outdoor sites or semi-trailers that need to be tracked between multiple locations, LoRa and GPS take over. Again, the right choice depends on the distance, whether the tracking is indoors or outdoors, and the expected accuracy.

Liability or asset: the real cost issue

A passive tag is inexpensive, battery-free, and virtually everlasting, but it must be read at a checkpoint. An active tag transmits continuously and can be located in real time, but this comes at the cost of having to monitor the battery and a higher unit cost. At a single site, both types are used: passive tags on thousands of tools and containers, and active tags on the few dozen critical mobile assets.

The Real-Time Map: See Your Fleet at a Glance

Location information is only useful if it can be understood at a glance. The business application displays your assets on a site map, along with their status: available, in use, under maintenance, or out of the area.

We’ve added some simple and useful rules. An alert when an asset crosses a boundary it shouldn’t cross. A notification when regulated equipment is nearing its expiration date. A complete, exportable history of movements that answers the question “Where was this asset on a given day?” in just a few seconds. Raw location data becomes a decision.

Real-world example: Tracking lifting equipment and forklifts at an industrial site

What You Get Out of It

First, less time wasted searching. Second, fewer unnecessary repurchases, because you stop ordering what you already have. Finally, better availability of critical equipment, because you know where it is and whether it’s available.

In facilities subject to regulatory inspections, asset tracking provides the added benefit of traceability for movements and inspections. This is exactly what ensures secure tool tracking and FOD prevention in the aerospace industry, where proving a tool’s location is a requirement, not a convenience.

Review the monitoring of my fleet

Making Your Asset Tracking Project a Success: The Method

An asset tracking project doesn’t start with a choice of technology. It starts with a question: What decision do you want to make based on location data?

List the assets that matter. Rarely the entire fleet, but often the most mobile and critical ones. Define the required accuracy on a zone-by-zone basis. An entire aisle may suffice here, while centimeter-level accuracy is required there. Choose between passive and active modes accordingly, so you only pay for accuracy where it’s needed. Place reading points at natural access points without adding unnecessary work. Integrate with your information system so the data supports fleet maintenance and management. Then validate the system in a pilot area before expanding.

Frequently asked questions

What is the difference between RFID and RTLS for asset tracking?

RFID tracks location by zone as an object passes a reader. RTLS, whether using UWB or BLE, provides continuous, real-time positioning. The two are often combined at the same site, depending on the required accuracy for each zone.

Is UWB required?

No. UWB provides centimeter-level accuracy but is more expensive to deploy. If zone-based location tracking is sufficient, passive RFID is significantly more cost-effective.

Can you track assets outdoors?

Yes. For outdoor use or between multiple sites, we rely on GPS and LoRa rather than UWB. The choice depends on the area to be covered and the desired level of accuracy.

How long does a beacon stay active?

It depends on the transmission frequency and the model. The update rate is determined based on actual needs, since it is what determines battery life. An asset tracked every minute and one tracked every second will not have the same battery life.

Can the tracking system be integrated with an ERP or CMMS?

Yes. Asset movements and statuses can be fed into your ERP, CMMS, or MES systems to link asset locations to work orders, maintenance, and fixed asset management.

Can we track people as well?

Yes, using badges. It uses the same technology as that used for tracking personnel in sensitive areas or ATEX zones.

Where should I start?

By focusing on a specific area and a set of critical assets. We demonstrate value within a limited scope, then expand. We define this scope together with you.

We start with your actual fleet and your service areas, not a catalog. Tell us what you need, and we’ll propose an initial pilot scope.

Let’s Talk About Your AssetsComparing RTLS and RFID

See also: Geolocation of industrial assets, RFID tool tracking, and the traceability glossary.

 

Stop looking for your assets

Tell us about your fleet and your critical areas. We’ll design a monitoring solution tailored to your needs.

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