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How to track, trace and audit your company’s valuable assets with barcoded tags or labels

February 7, 2013

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There are so many things to consider in running a larger business, and time is a constant constraint when making decisions which can help your business to run as cost-effectively and profitably as possible. Implementing a barcoded asset tracking system can save you endless hours and money in locating, assessing and managing your company’s most valuable equipment, vehicles and physical resources.Here we discuss why you should implement an asset tracking system through the use of barcode labels or tags, how to pick the right system, and just what the benefits to your organisation can be.


What is an asset tracking system?

First of all – what is an asset? Your company’s assets are different from your Inventory items. Assets are physical objects which have a usable lifetime of at least a year, and are utilised frequently by your staff. They include electronic items such as laptops and pc’s, photocopiers and printers, company cars and warehouse vehicles as well as tools and furniture. Because of this they have an innate value which will depreciate over time, and will create maintenance costs. Inventory items on the other hand will be consumed over the normal course of business – such as stock items, stationery and other consumables. 

3m silver void asset tracking barcode label

If your company has a large amount of assets which need to be accounted for you should implement a barcoded system whereby you can assign assets to either a specific location within your company – for example the photocopier belonging to head office’s accounts department; or to a specific person – such as the laptop given to one of your on the road sales people. The simplest and most time-effective way to do this is with the use of barcoded tags or labels which are affixed to the item in question, and scanned into your asset database with a handheld barcode reader.  Similarly – locations and members of your staff can be assigned with a barcode on the door of the room or on the person’s ID card for example. Then when items move location or need to be assigned to a person or department, the code can simply be scanned and the relevant data entered via PC to time-stamp the action and update your records quickly and efficiently, as well as to run missing asset reports and to perform complete audits.

aluminium asset barcode metal tag

What are the benefits of implementing and running an asset tracking system? The core of any business is to make sure that you are running your organisation in the most efficient and productive manner. It can be very difficult for management to access the right data in a large organisation with many staff and lots of equipment; and to see where funds are being wasted or money could be saved. The reports which you can access via asset tracking software are invaluable for this – where are the maintenance costs of a certain piece of equipment outweighing its actual value to the company, which assets are rarely used or where might it be wise to invest in a more efficient item or procure more of a certain piece of equipment to enable your staff to perform better, amongst myriad other applications. Not to mention knowing when assets are going missing! On average, implementing a barcoded system means that asset audits take at least a tenth of the time of a manual count and are far more accurate. You can always run periodic audits of certain locations to avoid a massive effort come year-end. 

How do I find the system which is right for my business?

There are many things to consider when choosing an asset tracking system. What tags or labels do you need? Do you need highly durable metal or aluminium asset tags or will a simple polyester label be sufficient? Do you want to print your own labels with a barcode printer? What scanner is best for your use and how many do you need? What software will have all the fields you need to run valuable reports? It may seem daunting, but doing your research and getting the best performing system and software for your particular company can save you a massive amount of time and money in the long run. Once you have your system installed, be thorough and diligent about having all assets coming into and leaving their location or stockroom, or assigned to a staff member, being scanned and your data updated. This way you will maintain the integrity of your asset database and reap the full rewards that asset tracking can bring.

Need help or more information? SA Barcodes and our partners can help you find the system which works for your business, and assist with barcode tags or labels, software installation and staff training.

Feel free to contact us for more information.


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    Author

    Our blog researchers include local barcode experts from the SA Barcodes team: Cat Robinson and Andreas van Wyk

    SA Barcodes Team

    The aim of this page is to educate you, our customer, with all the information you may require about the different facets of barcodes and how they work.

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