Equipment tracking is not necessarily new, but equipment fleet tracking and management for construction can only be performed successfully when contractors have the right hardware on their machines. Effective equipment fleet management has a huge impact on a contractor’s business and overall bottom line, but this can’t be attained without reliable devices. Equipment management is way more than just a dot on the map, and it all starts in the field.

Garbage In, Garbage Out

When a contractor uses equipment tracking devices that are unreliable or cannot withstand the conditions present in construction environments, they are making key business decisions related to their fleet with incomplete and inaccurate data.

True insights and valuable information need to be fueled by good data from equipment trackers. When searching for an equipment tracking and management provider, contractors should ensure the provider is continually focusing on how the data is being gathered from the tracker and ensuring its durability in all construction situations. If it breaks down in the field, the information that is being sourced from that data is now incomplete.

Physical tracker durability in the field coupled with the rapid evolution in technology—and always being on top of and in step of where that technology is moving—and continually offering new advancement on hardware is critical for a contractor. As tracker reliability is a fundamental need to fuel an equipment management solution, contractors should ensure that their provider and their solution is always ahead.

Today’s Latest Hardware Is the Solution

Providers like Tenna remain ahead of the technology curve and market demand in terms of hardware that is a best fit for mixed construction fleets and construction environments.

Contractors need rugged and durable tracking options for everything in their fleet, including heavy equipment and related parts and attachments, heavy trucks, light-duty trucks and other fleet vehicles, mid-sized equipment, small tools, as well as material inventory and other consumables—and they need to be able to track all of that on a single system.

Equally important is the need for these trackers to be able to withstand construction environments that their assets consistently live and work in. Environmental conditions like rain, snow, hail and ice, extreme heat or freezing temperatures, as well as typical working conditions based on use such as extreme impact, vibrations, etc. are prerequisites that trackers must be able to endure without compromise.

Tenna’s suite of advanced construction equipment trackers meet both of these demands. Not only is Tenna’s hardware flexible to track the varied asset classes that are found in a standard construction fleet based on use cases, but Tenna also continually expands their hardware product offerings based on their industry experience, the latest tech innovations and manufacturing capabilities, and what they hear from their contractor customers to ensure they supply everything contractors need from their trackers in the field, from the durability of the hardware to the reliability of the data.

Tracking Devices and Features

The latest example in Tenna’s technology innovation is the TennaBLE Beacon Steel Puck. With this device, Tenna put a spin on their traditional ruggedized Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) beacon to encase it in steel and weld it onto assets that get particularly aggressive use in the field, such as buckets and blades, to ensure ultimate, unyielding stability.

This innovation provides a reliable tracking solution for parts and attachments that otherwise has not yet existed in an autonomous manner. Using BLE technology, contractors can track their parts, attachments, boom sections, etc. by picking up a location ping when in a 100-foot range, without any manual effort and don’t need to worry about the tracker getting separated from the asset during routine use.

Conclusion

Contractors should strongly consider and evaluate hardware options during their equipment management solution decision making process to ensure they incorporate trackers that will support their equipment management goals and strategies. Without reliable hardware in the field, they will not be set up for success.

In addition to the popular puck which has been highly sought-after by customers and is being quickly incorporated into many of Tenna’s contractors’ fleets, Tenna has more hardware advancements that are planned for this summer and later this year. Tenna is committed to continuing to provide the most up-to-date and valuable solutions to contractors with mixed fleets and multiple use cases managing their equipment on the Tenna platform.

Learn more about the TennaBLE Beacon Steel Puck